I'll Be There
by psychochirpingmistress
Summary: The new spirit of the wind, Aeola, is born and she must discover what true courage is while she changes the lives of everyone she meets, including the Guardians. A tiny bit of romance, OCxJack (story will not revolve around them). I DO NOT OWN RISE OF THE GUARDIANS. DREAMWORKS DID ALL OF THAT.
1. Chapter 1: Aeola

Chapter 1: Aeola

"Hurry up! I think it's going to start soon!" Toothiana called out to the other Guardians.

"There is no need to rush," said North from his workshop. "It's only five minutes until midnight."

Toothiana sighed softly and fidgeted with her fingers. All of the Guardians were excited. Earlier that day, The Man in the Moon informed North of the coming of a new spirit. Even though Manny was not involved in bringing new spirits into the world (Jack Frost was the only exception), he was always up to date on the birth of a new spirit and he always let the Guardians know.

Jack flew in from an open window, panting. "Hey...did...it...start yet?"

Sandy, who was flying around the globe, shook his head. Tooth looked up at the Spirit of Winter. "Why do you look so tired?"

"Oh...Bunny and I were...racing over here...he should be here...right about n-"

The doors burst open and Bunnymund ran in. "Hey! Did I beat Jack here...? Oh."

Jack laughed. "Nice try, Easter. You're a little late."

Bunny groaned then frowned at Jack. "Why do you look so exhausted? Does flying really take that much effort?"

"No. It's just while I was flying over here..." Jack took a deep breath and stretched out his arms. "The wind suddenly just stopped and I fell onto the snow, so I had to run for a while."

Bunny snorted and Jack rolled his eyes. "It's not that funny. The wind's been really weird lately."

North walked out of his workshop. "Alright! Less than a minute until midnight. Everyone gather around."

Tooth and Sandy flew over to the others while Bunny walked over, still upset that Jack had beat him in the race. Jack joined them and asked the others, "By the way, I was kinda wondering if I'm the newest spirit to be born."

"No," North replied. "About...when was it? One hundred and fifty years ago, a spirit of the woodlands was born. Cheeky little fellow, he is."

"Little runt tries to run off with my eggs every year," growled Bunny. "I always manage to catch him and try to bash his bloody head in, but he never learns his lesson."

"It's starting!" exclaimed Tooth.

The Guardians crowded around a large, glowing crystal that was floating in front of the globe and waited. After what seemed like an eternity, an image slowly appeared. Tooth squealed with excitement. The crystal revealed tall, dangerous looking cliffs that towered over the sea. Everything was quiet except for the waves crashing against the rocks. Then the light of the full moon focused on one little spot near the edge of the cliffs. White mist came down from the sky and spun into spirals until it became thick enough so that no one could see through it. After a while, it began to disappear and revealed the young spirit.

She was only a girl, who looked to be the age of thirteen. She had a small, skinny body with arms and legs that looked like spaghetti noodles. Her clothes were very modern: white Converse, black skinny jeans, a light blue jacket that covered a white shirt with a name of some rock band, and black, fingerless gloves. A floppy gray beret rested on her head. The tips of her light blonde hair were the same color as her jacket. She looked so wild to the Guardians. The only thing that didn't make her look human was how unnatural her skin color was. It was as white as a sheet, even paler than Jack's skin.

The girl was floating in midair, unconscious. Eventually, her eyes fluttered open and two intensely gray orbs stared up at the sky. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked around. A terrified scream escaped her lips when she realized that she was floating in the air. She flailed her arms and legs around until the force that was holding her up dropped her down on the ground. All the Guardians except Tooth and Sandy burst into laughter. The girl got up and wiped the dust from her clothes but froze when she saw her pale fingers.

"What the...?" she said. She examined the rest of her body, touching her elbows and shoulders and torso and legs like she was making sure that everything was in place. She ran to a nearby puddle and gasped at her reflection.

"What?" she muttered. "I...this isn't...what's happening?"

A breeze picked up and two objects appeared in front of her. A white metal bow and a sheath stuffed with arrows. She slowly picked them up but dropped them when a soft feminine voice spoke to her.

"Your name is Aeola," said Nature.

Aeola looked up, startled. "What? No it's not! Who is this? What's going on?" She clenched her trembling fists. "My name isn't Aeola! It's...it's Kelly! My name's Kelly Anne Stratford! I'm not supposed to be here! This is some kind of mistake!"

"Your name is Aeola," Nature repeated. "You have been reborn as a spirit. You, my child, are the Spirit of the Wind."

The Guardians were as dumbfounded as Aeola. There was never really a wind spirit since Kon, the Inca god of wind, gave up the position in the late 1500's. Since then no one really controlled the wind except when other spirits and gods needed it, like when Triton uses it for hurricanes and Jack uses it for flying and snow blizzards. And when there were things that can only be controlled by a wind deity, Nature took care of that. But there's only so much that She can do, so it was understandable that She created a new wind spirit. It was still a surprise to the Guardians.

"At least it's not another winter spirit," Bunnymund muttered.

Jack shot him a dirty look but said nothing.

"I don't understand," Aeola shouted to the sky. "Why me? Out of all the people on this earth, why was someone like me chosen for this?"

"Because you have something that not many people have," said Nature. "You have a spirit that is as free as the wind. Even though you may not know that, you have had that spirit in you ever since you were a child and you still have it now. It is an important factor for your job."

"...My job?"

"Yes." The bow and sheath of arrows flew into Aeola's hands. "These weapons are for you to defend yourself against anything that threatens your safety. And you can also use your powers to defend or flee."

"Powers?" Aeola looked at her hand. She flicked her wrist at a group of nearby palm trees and a blast of wind caused the leaves to whip wildly and the tree trunks to bend at extreme angles. The wind ceased when she put her hand down and she smiled. An idea popped into her head. Aeola strapped the sheath behind her back and jumped, hovering in the air for a bit until she landed back down. She jumped again, floating higher but not high enough. On the third jump the wind violently shot her up into the air at an impossible speed. Aeola was screaming and shrieking, "Stop! STOP!" until the wind obeyed her command and she stopped abruptly. She felt relieved but her stomach churned when she looked down and saw that she was above the clouds. She only had time to say, "oh, crap" before she started to plummet towards the earth.

After about ten seconds of falling and more screaming, Aeola called to the wind to support her. It was chaotic. The wind only kept her floating for little bits of time and then let her go to fall. By this time Jack was on the floor laughing at the girl. It was amusing to him that the spirit of the wind had no idea how to control the force that she was the master of. It continued on with the gales holding on to Aeola and letting go until about 200 feet above the cliffs, where she plummeted down to the jagged rocks sticking out of the water. She began to panic and frantically called for the wind's assistance. She was about three feet away when the wind came to the rescue and carried her out of harm's way.

Finally, Aeola had control of the wind. She only floated around at first, testing the wind. But she began to trust it more and let it toss her around, making her spin and dive in the air. She shot an arrow above her with no struggle (she has never shot an arrow in her whole entire life!) and caught it as it came down. She began to laugh and smile, enjoying herself, until Nature spoke again.

"Though this new power is a blessing, it is also a great burden," She warned. "Like you, the wind is unpredictable. At times it can be gentle and comforting, but it can also be violent and destructive. You must learn to control your emotions, otherwise you will harm those around you. Not only did I give you this power because of your spirit, I gave it to you so that you can learn from it. The wind will face any challenge without hesitation. It is courageous and brave. You, my dear, will realize how important it is that you learn from the wind. I must leave, but heed this warning: know who your friends are, and who the enemy is."

Nature's voice faded off. After a moment of silence, Aeola smiled and flew off to a nearby town.

Bunnymund spoke up. "I guess I don't mind having a new wind spirit around. As long as she doesn't cause trouble, unlike Frostbite here." He looked down at Jack, who was still recovering from his excessive laughter.

Jack looked up and smirked. "Oh, come on. I never caused you that much trouble."

"Blizzard of '68."

"That was one time."

The large Russian stepped in. "Good grief. The both of you argue like brothers."

"Oh no," Tooth said under her breath. The Guardians turned back to the crystal. Aeola was shouting down at a family walking across the street. A woman and a man walking with two little boys and a teenage boy.

"Hey!" Aeola yelled from above them. "Mom! Dad! Kyle! You guys!"

All of the Guardians winced as the wind spirit flew down to her family. None of them really wanted to watch what was about to happen.

Aeola walked beside them, waving her arms around. "Jeez, are you guys deaf or something? Hello?" She looked more closely at them and saw the sadness in their eyes. "Oh...no, look! Guys, I'm okay! I'm alive and well and all that! Yeah, I'm kinda pale and I control the wind now, but look!"

They did not look her way. Aeola groaned in frustration and ran in front of them. "MOM! DAD! Are you not listening to me? If you guys are still mad at me, then I'm sorry f-"

Aeola froze in place. Her mother had walked through her. She walked right through her body, leaving an almost painful feeling in Aeola's gut. It felt like butterflies in her stomach. Butterflies with giant claws trying to rip out of her skin. She turned around to say something to her parents until her older brother walked through her and the painful feeling came back. She gasped and stumbled back, which only caused her big brother to walk through her again. A million questions bounced around in her head. Why can't they hear me? Why can't they see me? Is it because I'm a spirit now? Why can't I make any contact with them?

Aeola turned around when she hear her father speak. "Augustus, AJ. Let's get going." His voice was soft but was heavy with grief.

The two little boys stood near a lamp post and one of them pulled on his brother's shirt. "AJ, come on."

AJ refused to move. He was clinging onto the lamp post and staring out at the ocean. He sniffled and said with a trembling voice, "I want Kelly back. I want her to come back to us right now."

Aeola's heart nearly broke after hearing her brother's plea. She walked to him and went on her knees, smiling. "It's okay, Little Dude. I'm right here. Kelly's right here."

Mr. Stratford walked up to AJ. "I'm sorry, Sprout. She can't come back. She's gone."

"No she's not!" AJ yelled with tears streaming down his face. "Kelly's not gone! She's out there! She will come back! She has to!"

"I'm right here," Aeola repeated.

AJ's dad walked through Aeola and bent down and picked up the screaming and kicking child. The family walked away with their minds on the loss of their deceased daughter and sister and left her still on her knees near the lamp post.

"I'll always be here." Aeola's voice cracked as she tried to choke back tears.

The wails of AJ could still be heard in the distance when the image on the crystal disappeared and sunk back into the ground. The Guardians remained silent. They all knew the terrible feeling of people walking through you. They could almost feel how terrible it felt when your own family can't see you. But they will never know the tragic feeling of knowing how much your family grieves for you and not being able to let them know that you're always there for them. Jack could relate to the wind spirit, in some sense. But he knew that she was going through a much worse predicament than he went through. She still had her memories so it was more painful for her than when he first found out he was a spirit.

Tooth broke the silence. "Poor thing. I hope she recovers from that."

Jack stood up. "Maybe I should go to her. Like say hi or something."

"Not a good idea, Jack," said North in a serious voice. "Her heart very broken. It is best to leave her alone and let her heal."

More silence. "Well," Bunny broke in. "I better get going. Three more days until Easter. I need to go ahead and finish up the rest of the eggs."

Everyone but North left and went back to their usual business. Jack was planning on visiting Burgess and saying hi to Jamie and the others, but there was something else that he needed to do.

Jack felt uncomfortable as he approached the Californian city of Santa Monica. Sure, spring had just begun and it was cooler at night, but it was still warm enough to make the winter spirit feel uneasy. Still, he wanted to make Aeola feel better, or at least say hi to her. But as he got closer to the city, the winds became stronger. It eventually became so strong that Jack felt like he was flying against an invisible wall and he got the message: don't come any closer. He eventually flew away, leaving the wind spirit to her thoughts.

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**...hello.**

**Yay! first fanfic published. I'm quite proud of myself, really. Can't really believe that I'm doing a thing like this. It's pretty groovy. Normally when I come up with an idea for a thing I think about it for a long time without actually writing about it and then drop it. So this is a freaking miracle.**

**Anyways, the paragraph with the crystal sinking back into the ground is a bit shaky. Sorry. Also, if some details in the fanfic are a bit off, it's because I haven't seen RotG since December and I don't have the movie, so I have to rely on Wiki for that stuff.**

**Hope you guys like? or favorite and review and... subscribe? wait does this website have that? I don't know. I'm new to this and it's so confusing...God, I'm so lost help me.**

**-psychochirpingmistress**


	2. Chapter 2: The Easter Bunny

It took about a day for Aeola to recover. She just did what she normally does to deal with her emotions: bottle them up and shove them down the deepest, darkest hole in her heart and try her best to forget about them until something triggers her to release them and let the feelings control her actions. It was unhealthy but effective, and it always worked for her...most of the time. Along with her emotions, Aeola also tried to forget about her family by dealing with it in another unhealthy way: telling herself lies.

"Oh well," she told herself. Talking to herself wasn't anything new or strange, since she did it ever since she was twelve. "They never really cared about me anyways. They're probably better off without me. I bet they've moved on and are doing their normal routine now or something. Of course. They would do that. They won't miss me. No one will miss me. Whatever. I don't care. Not. At. All."

These words were hammered into her head so many times that Aeola was able to carry on while feeling no sympathy or love for her family. After this she finally got up and left Santa Monica to begin her duties as the spirit of the wind.

Surprisingly, there wasn't much work to be done. All Aeola had to do was fly around the world, make nice cool breezes here and strong, forceful winds there, and that was basically it. So she was able to do all of that in a day without using any kind of teleportation or portals and was still able to relax at a few places around the world. That was because Aeola is the fastest flyer in the world. The other flying spirits and creatures, such as the little tooth fairies or pegasi, got to their destinations quickly by teleporting. Aeola didn't need that. If someone had to teleport from the middle of China to Ireland, Aeola could be on the opposite side of the Earth and still be able to fly there before that person arrived. Also, she was able to be in control of the spirits who needed the wind to perform their duties, deciding who gets to use it and who can't. When she was reborn, the names of every deity who needed her power were in her head, so she could give a bit of her power to whoever she wants for as long as she wants.

It was great to be the master of the gales. Aeola could almost hear the other spirits begging her to use her power, so she just permitted all of them to use it. It didn't really matter to her who used the wind. She was able to finish her rounds in just a day while still wasting some time in certain places in the world. Aeola blew the hats off of some baseball fans at a Dodger's game, rested on top of a tall building in France, and rewarding the hard working rice farmers in Japan with a nice cool breeze, only to be chased off by an angry tree nymph when she accidentally almost blew away her giant pile of cherry blossom petals. She wondered if the other spirits were this cranky.

Aeola traveled to London after her rounds. She went there while she was on a school trip two years ago and she could remember how amazed she was at all the buildings and history that the city held. Only it seemed less grand now that she was flying above the city. She flew around the Shard for a bit and tried to blow the big, fluffy hats off of the Queen's guards at Buckingham Palace until dawn began to approach and the guards switched shifts. She flew over to a nearby magazine stand and looked at the date on a newspaper. It was Easter Sunday. Something crossed Aeola's mind. If all of these spirits and gods and nymphs exist, then does that mean...?

The wind spirit flew up above London again and looked around for any kind of greenery. Near the palace was St. James Park and Aeola quickly shot herself there, landing near some park benches. She looked around trying to look for a little rabbit carrying a basket stuffed with colorful eggs, but the only things she saw were ducks swimming around in the nearby lake and pigeons fighting over a small bag of kettle corn. Aeola silently cursed to herself. Of course, she thought. What was I thinking? That the Easter Bunny's real? Stupid! I mean, did I seriously expect to find him? Who ever thought-

Something moved in the bushes and startled Aeola. She flew under a weeping willow tree and readied her bow, unsure if it was just a pigeon or an actual threat. The bushes continued to rustle as several small objects ran out of the bushes. They were round and colorful with skinny little legs. Aeola stared at them in shock. They were...Easter eggs. Real Easter eggs! More of them kept on coming out of the bushes until it seemed like there were hundreds of the tiny things running everywhere. Then something bigger climbed out of the shrubbery, something with fur and large ears sticking out of its head. Aeola couldn't believe her eyes.

It was the Easter Bunny.

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Bunnymund brushed the leaves off his fur and walked to the center of the field. He watched as his eggs tried to find hiding places under the tree roots and park benches. The pooka felt happiness in his heart when he thought about how excited the children will be when they set out on the Easter egg hunt. He never got tired of that feeling, even though he's been doing it every year for centuries.

The rabbit's thoughts were interrupted, however, when he spotted three of his eggs running towards the lake. He groaned. It was annoying whenever his eggs would run away and break themselves.

"'Ay, get back here ya' little buggers!" he called out. All three of them fell over and started rolling towards the water. "Oh, come on!"

Bunnymund started to run to them but stopped dead in his tracks. A strong wind came out of nowhere and rolled the eggs all the way to his feet. He bent over to push them towards the field and they ran off to join the others. Then there was a flash of blue and white and another blast of wind hit the pooka. He growled, thinking it was Jack Frost at first, but the breeze that he felt was warm, and he knew that Jack couldn't pull that off. He sniffed the air and caught an unfamiliar scent. It led him to a large tree and he looked up to see blonde and blue hair sticking out from behind one of the branches. The pooka chuckled.

"Hey there...Aeola, is it?" he called out. No answer. "It's okay. I won't bite. I just want to say hi."

Aeola stuck her head out to the side of the tree, giving Bunnymund a peculiar look. The pooka frowned.

"What? What is it? Why you starin' at me like that?" He looked down at himself and scowled. "Oh, I get it. Didn't expect the Easter Bunny to look like this, eh? Armed with explosive eggs and boomerangs and looking like a giant man-rabbit? See, that's my problem. These days, the kids are told that the Easter bunny is this cute little fluffy rabbit with big, sparkling eyes and floppy ears and runs around smiling and giggling like a bloody idiot while throwing cheap, plastic eggs in the air without a care in the world. You probably expected me to look like that, didn't you?"

The girl smiled shyly and nodded, making Bunnymund groan.

"Of course! You WOULD expect that! Everyone does! These stereotypes are so annoying! I mean, there was this one time where I kind of looked like that, but that was ONE time! So I don't know where someone got the idea of me looking like that in the first place! Ridiculous!"

Aeola laughed at the pooka's frustration. She hopped down from her tree and hovered above the ground but retreated backwards when Bunnymund tried to approach. He smiled.

"So, you're the new spirit of the wind. How you enjoying it so far?"

She shrugged.

"Don't talk much, do you?"

She shrugged again.

"How old are you?"

Aeola showed him her ten fingers, closed her fists, and then showed him six fingers. Bunny was surprised.

"Sixteen? Really? You look a lot younger than you really are."

She rolled her eyes and nodded.

The pooka chuckled and looked up at the sky to see the rising sun. He turned to Aeola. "Well, the day is starting. I better get going. It was nice meeting you."

Aeola looked disappointed and Bunnymund felt bad, but he couldn't stay any longer. She flew off but stopped when the pooka was calling out to her.

"Heads up, mate!" He tossed an Easter egg to her. "Happy Easter!"

Aeola caught the egg and admired the pink and blue colors. The two immortals waved goodbye to each other and Aeola watched as Bunnymund disappeared into the bushes. Moments later, children ran into the park carrying their Easter baskets and looking for the eggs. One of the little girls was holding a white basket with a cut out of the Easter Bunny on it. It had pink ears and a pink nose and a cartoony grin on its face. Aeola laughed.

Oh, Bunnymund isn't going to like that.

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**whoo hoo another chapter. :D**

**Thank you to that one person who favorited this story. I would like to say your name but I think it takes too much effort to move my hand to the mouse and click on the thing and all that. But thank you. It means a lot to me and I feel really happy.**

**Anyways, hope you guys like this chapter. I actually like it. I was watching Doctor Who while I wrote this so I felt like throwing in London in here. **

**So...review, follow, and/or favorite if you guys like! Will post next chapter soon. Have a great day or something!**

**-psychochirpingmistress**


	3. Chapter 3: Snow Boy

It was only two days after Easter, but the children who lived in the little town of Burgess still buzzed with excitement over the amount of eggs that they gathered. It seemed that the Easter Bunny had given them double the amount of eggs this year and spoiled them with sweets. But Bunnymund later regretted giving them so much candy, for the children had eaten themselves sick and had to spend the remainder of that day resting in bed. That still didn't stop them the next day when they grabbed the rest of their sugary eggs and devoured all of them.

Jack Frost was visiting Burgess to make sure the pond near the town was completely frozen solid, but he ended up spending the whole entire day playing with Jamie Bennett and the rest of his friends. They were completely high on sugar, so the winter spirit had a hard time keeping up with the hyper kids. The playtime became chaotic. Jamie and Cupcake were wrestling each other in the snow, the twins were trying to climb up the statue of the founder of Burgess, and Pippa was trying to stuff a packed snowball into Monty's mouth and down his pants. Jack was so busy flying around and making sure that no one got hurt that he didn't notice three year-old Sophie Bennett climb high up a nearby tree. She fixed the straps to her "fairy wings" and shouted, "Fairy, fly! Wheee!"

Jack turned around right as Sophie jumped from the branch and his heart skipped a beat. He flew as fast as he could to catch her, but she had escaped his grasp...and was flying above his head.

"Ima fairy!" Sophie giggled. She flew around in circles and was shrieking and laughing. All of the other kids stopped what they were doing and stared up at the girl in wonder.

"Jack," Jaime said. "How are you doing that?!"

Jack frowned. "Um, I'm not doing any of this."

Suddenly, jets of cold air hit the group and lifted them up into the air. They screamed but it turned into laughter as the children went in zig zag lines and spirals. Everyone was having a great time, except for Jack. The Guardian of Fun was not having fun. The wind tossed him around more roughly than how it handled the children and he had no control of his wind to escape from this wild ride. Eventually, the wind did stop and dropped them all into a soft pile of snow. The kids were laughing hysterically and talking about their little adventure.

"That was AWESOME!"

"Did you see me? I thought I was going to fall to the ground, but then it picked me up, and there was this crazy feeling in my stomach and it was SO cool!"

"Fairies!"

"That was the craziest thing ever! I wanna do it again!"

"Jack, are you okay?"

Jack was still on the ground moaning. Unfortunately the wind dropped him in a much smaller pile of snow and he felt the impact of the concrete against his back. Nothing was damaged, but it hurt like hell.

Monty pulled Jack to his to his feet and the winter spirit rubbed his shoulder. "Yeah, I'm good. I'm fine. Just a little roughed up."

Jamie ran up to Jack, grinning. "Are you sure you didn't do any of that? That was freaking awesome!"

Jack shook his head. "Yeah I'm sure. It wasn't me who did it." He looked towards the forest, seeing a pale, blonde girl leaning against a tree with a smirk on her face. He smiled. "But I think I know who did. I'll be right back."

Before Jamie could say anything, Jack was already flying towards the forest to get back at the wind spirit. Aeola began to fly away, but slow enough so that Jack could keep up with her. They flew around in a large circle until Aeola stopped and turned around, making a face at Jack.

"What's wrong, Snow Boy?" she shouted in a mocking tone. "Can't keep up? Still a little dazed by my little party trick back there?"

Jack smirked. "Oh, I'll show you a party trick."

The winter spirit raised his arms and lifted a large pile of snow from the ground above his head. He clenched his fists and the snow compacted into a giant snowball. Aeola was so busy trying to come up with a clever insult (she was really bad at those) that she didn't notice the large mass of snow hurtling towards her until it was too late. The snowball burst and she went falling. Jack cheered.

"Yeah! Score one for me and zero for the wind spirit! Who's the boss now?"

Instead of hearing an insult, Jack heard something crack and splash. He looked down and gasped when he saw that Aeola had fallen through the ice and into the pond that he had meant to freeze earlier. Heart racing, he flew down to the hole but took a step back when he saw that he was refreezing the water. He didn't know what to do. Suddenly, Aeola burst through the thin ice sheet that Jack had accidentally created. She climbed out, coughing out the water in her lung and pointing an accusing finger at Jack.

"You..." She coughed. "Mean! That was really mean!"

Jack pulled her off the ice and onto the ground and let go when he realized that he was freezing the water on her clothes. After having a coughing fit, Aeola stood up and blasted herself with a warm, strong wind. She was completely dry, except for her partly frozen sleeve. Jack went up to her, nervous.

"Look, I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to do push you down there. It was an accident, okay? I never meant to hurt you."

Aeola looked up at him. Jack was slightly surprised and worried when he saw how frightened she looked. The wind spirit looked down and sighed.

"No, it's...I'm sorry. I mean, I shouldn't have tossed you around back there in the first place. And I'm sorry for throwing you onto the ground and I'm sorry for making fun of you and for calling you mean. I didn't mean to cause you any kind of trouble. I promise not to bother you again. Goodbye."

Jack frowned. He expected an insult or yelling or forgiveness, but never an apology back. Why was she even saying sorry for something that wasn't even her fault? He opened his mouth to say something, but Aeola had already flown off, leaving Jack very confused.

For the next eight months, Jack never saw Aeola again.

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**Sorry if this one was a bit sloppy and short. But that's what i get for writing this while at a party celebrating Filipino Independence Day and listening to my aunts sing Filipino songs really badly on a karaoke machine. But yeah! two chapters in one day.**

**basically, I was just trying to show what kind of person Aeola is in this chapter. I mean, in the last chapter she was just shy (and a wee bit emotional). And in this one, it shows the reader that she's also likes to have a laugh every once in a while, but whenever something bad happens, she can't really help but blame herself, even if it wasn't her fault. Whoa, why am i going all English teacher here? Sorry. I like to ramble a lot. hehe.**

**Anyways, follow, favorite, and review and stuff! Next chapter might take a while because I am having a terrible case of writer's block. I'll just read some angsty fanfic and I think I'll be good.**

**-psychochirpingmistress**


	4. Chapter 4: The Boogeyman

**Warning**: there's a bit of cursing in here! _**YE HAVE BEEN WARNED**_

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Chapter 4: The Boogeyman

Technically, it wasn't Aeola's fault. She didn't know how destructive her powers were and how connected they were to her emotions. But she couldn't help but to blame herself for killing - murdering - over 20 residents of Oklahoma with a tornado that she accidentally created.

It was late May when Aeola decided to check up on her family. She felt guilty that she had not thought of them too much ever since she became a spirit and (she didn't know it) she missed them a lot. So Aeola went to visit her family in a little city in the outskirts of LA. Her mood was surprisingly happy and optimistic, the best she's felt in the past two months. But it all went away when she arrived at her house.

Aeola could hear the shouting from a few blocks away. One of the windows near the living room was open so she looked through it to see her whole family fighting with each other. It was ridiculous. The argument went from "Who left crumbs on the carpet?" to "What have I done to you to deserve this?" and "Why can't you be more like [insert friend's name here]?" along with "you never behave and you always do this to me!" and "you're the worst mom/dad/son/brother in the whole world and I hate you!" Aeola rolled her eyes. She had thought that her family would become a normal family after she died, but they became even worse now that she was gone.

But then the fighting took a horrible turn. Suddenly, Aeola heard her name, the name that her parents had given to her when she was born as a mortal. Then that name was followed by harsh words about her. Aeola waited for someone to defend her, but they said nothing. instead, her whole family had something hurtful and terrible to say about their deceased daughter and sister. It went on and on until the wind spirit could no longer take it. She growled and a strong blast of wind caused the screen for the window to break and a glass cup on the coffee table to fall and shatter. The wind picked up and carried Aeola away and dropped her off in a large area covered with tall grass. She didn't really pay attention to where she went, as long as it wasn't near anywhere her dreadful family.

Tears welled up in her eyes. Aeola curled up in the soft grass and sobbed rather loudly. She hated crying like this. It made her feel weak, but she couldn't really help it. Every time she tried to force herself to stop crying, it only made her cry even more, so she eventually gave up. Dark clouds covered up the afternoon sky and jets of cold and warm air were mixing with each other, but Aeola did not notice.

After a while, rage replaced her sadness. The wind blew stronger as she stood up, trembling. The clouds above her seemed to be spinning slowly and forming a funnel. She took out her bow and violently slammed it on the ground repeatedly. Every time the bow hit the ground, the wind blew harder and the funnel of clouds grew bigger and spun faster and touched the ground a few hundred feet away from her. Aeola didn't notice the clouds and didn't care about the strong wind. Finally she threw her bow to the ground and let out a scream. This continued until her throat hurt. Aeola fell to her knees, still trembling with rage. Everything felt numb and strange, like she just woke up from a deep sleep. What brought her back into the real world were several leaves whizzing passed her head and a large piece of wood flying in the air. She suddenly noticed the deafening howl of the wind and turned around and saw her creation.

A tornado. A very large and wide tornado that was already tearing up a barn and making it's way to a small city. Aeola's heart raced as she realized that this was her doing. Panicking, she picked up her bow and quickly flew over to the tornado, but stayed far enough away from it so that she wouldn't get sucked in. But she didn't do anything. Aeola had no idea how to stop this storm, which only caused her to panic more, which caused the storm to move faster and become bigger. Then she made the mistake of coming too close to the tornado and she was sucked in.

For Aeola, it felt like she was flying like she normally does, except she had no control over herself and she felt like the gales were trying to rip her flesh open. Desperately, she tried to push herself out of the storm with her powers. After what seemed like forever, the tornado flung her out and onto the torn up grass. Aeola felt dazed but got her senses back when she saw the tornado rip out a bridge from the ground and scattered it's rubble onto a freeway. She began to panic again, causing the tornado to widen rapidly. As it tore up a farm and several houses, Aeola flew over to it and used her powers to make a strong wind that pushed against the tornado, canceling out the forces. It seemed to be working, but she began to grow fatigued and she stopped.

But over the howl of the wind, Aeola heard screaming. She looked down and watched in horror as the tornado began to destroy an elementary school. She closed her eyes and used her powers to try to get rid of the tornado again, but she was much weaker and she stopped again. her vision was blurring and she felt dizzy. The storm continued it's path of destruction for a while until the wind spirit tried to stop it again. This continued on for about an hour until Aeola finally stopped the tornado and passed out from exhaustion.

When Aeola woke up, it was already nighttime. She didn't know where she was. She was lying down on some dirt near a bunch of rubble. Her head was hurting, but otherwise she was alright. The wind spirit flew up above the area she was in, but then her heart sank when she looked down.

Everything was reduced to rubble. Scraps of wood were lying everywhere. There was a car that was in a place where a house used to be. people walked around the damage, searching for anything that survived. Nearby, firefighters tried to put out a house that was in flames. A woman began to weep when she found the body of her dog crushed under a lamp post. Everything was grim.

Aeola flew over to the elementary school and cringed when she saw a team of firefighters and police officers dig through the rubble. Families were near by, some holding their children and some anxiously waiting for their's to be found. paramedics struggled to pull in a gurney with an unconscious boy into an ambulance. His face was red from crying and his right arm was in a splint. But what broke Aeola was the boy's Avengers shirt that had blood on Captain America's shield. Augustus had the same shirt. As the ambulance drove the boy off to the hospital, Aeola had flown off to the edge of the town in the shadows.

The realization of what she had done suddenly hit her and questions spun around in her head._ Houses were destroyed. Where would the people who used to live in them stay now? The people looking through the remains of their houses...what valuable things did I destroy? The house on fire...was anybody in it? Did they survive? And that poor dog..._ Aeola's thoughts quickly switched to the memory of the state of the school. _There were children in there. Are they still alive? Or did they not survive? What if they're...dead? What if that little boy's dead?_ Aeola remembered the shirt he wore and thought of Augustus. She fell to her knees, clutching her head with her hands.

_He's probably dead_, she thought. Augustus is dead._ He is dead, oh GOD he is definitely dead. Augustus is dead, dead, dead._ Then Aeola took a deep shaky breath._ No. That little boy was not Augustus. Augustus is safe and sound back at the house in Santa Monica. But that little boy in the ambulance...he is still a human being. A child. Who is probably dead. All because of me. Everyone who got hurt and everyone who died...it was all because of my tornado. I created it._

_It's all my fault._

Aeola crumbled to the ground, but no tears came out. She had cried herself out earlier, so all she could do now was hyperventilate and pull the grass out of the ground. She was a bit angry with herself for not controlling her emotions. Nature had told her about that, but Aeola had forgotten about her warning. Now she was paying for it big time. Other conflicting emotions began to corrupt her. Guilt weighed down her heart. Stress made her head feel stuffy. Anger made her body tremble. There was a bit of sadness that made her feel weak. But there was something else deep inside the wind spirit. Something that made her want to crawl into a hole and hide forever.

It was fear.

* * *

"Delicious!" Pitch exclaimed. "Absolutely delicious!"

The Boogeyman closed his eyes and smiled, taking everything in. He felt wonderful, the best he's felt in quite a while. Pitch looked down from his floating cloud of black sand. There were families huddled together around the hospital waiting for any kind of good news about their loved ones. Children clung to their parents, crying. Pitch could feel the fear in the air. It was like walking outside and feeling the sun warm your cheeks after a cold winter. It filled him with energy, but it was not enough. He needed more.

It has been over a year since the Guardians defeated him and destroyed his plans. Ever since then, Pitch's been trying to recover and gain enough power to cover the world in darkness and nightmares and fear. But now, people and children aren't as scared as they used to be, which is making his job even harder than before. So he's been going around the world scrapping up as much fear as he could obtain. But this tornado...it created a fear buffet for the nightmare king. This was the best thing that has happened to him in a long time, so he took his time enjoying it.

Pitch flew down to the ground and hid in the shadows of a half destroyed house. A little three year-old girl wandered away from her parents to look around what remained of her house. Suddenly the light from the lamp post went out (courtesy of Pitch) and everything around her went dark. The girl began to whimper, which amused Pitch. Then the girl turned around and saw a pair of yellow eyes staring down at her. She fell to the ground and screamed hysterically, crying for her mother to take her away from this nightmare. The parents and some police officers with flashlights came to her rescue and Pitch watched as the girl was taken into her mother's arms.

"M-mommy!" she sobbed. "There was...I s-saw a m-monster! It...it got all dark a-and...and it was really really scary and I saw a monster!"

As the parents spoke comforting words to their daughter, Pitch walked away laughing. Oh, how easy and enjoyable it was to scare children! They jump at the slightest noise and scream at anything that seems abnormal to them. They give off more fear than teenagers and adults do, which was why Pitch loves to frighten them. If only the Guardians weren't there for them, then more children would fear him longer...

Pitch suddenly stopped. he had heard someone crying, but it was not the child. He walked to the back of the house and found a young teenage girl curled up at the base of a tree. There was power radiating off of her, and Pitch knew that she was some kind of god or spirit. Along with that power, he could sense something else.

Fear.

The nightmare king's lips stretched into a smile and he spoke, "What's a spirit like you doing in such a place like this?"

The girl gasped and looked up, only to see darkness. "Who said that? Where are you?"

Pitch laughed. "Oh, where am I? I am everywhere. Under your bed, in your closet, in your basement...wherever the shadows are, I am there, my dear. Do you not know who I am?"

"No." The girl got up, reaching for her bow. "I don't."

"Do you happen to be a new spirit?"

The girl hesitated. "Yes. My name is Aeola. Two months ago, Mother Nature chose me as the new wind spirit. Now, who the fuck are you?"

"Oh she did, did she?" Pitch growled. Hearing about his daughter angered him. He had not seen or talked to her in a very long time. "Well, how nice." He walked out of the shadows and into the light. "My name is Pitch Black, but I am most commonly known as the Boogeyman. I am the king of nightmares. I am the reason why you are afraid of the dark and the reason why you have nightmares when you sleep. I am everything that you fear."

Aeola frowned. "Oh, so it's you? I've seen your face before."

"So you have?" Pitch melted into the darkness and his shadow appeared in the tree behind her. "How have you seen me before? I have never seen you until today."

"Yes you have," Aeola said, not even looking behind her. "When I was a mortal. I saw you when I was in kindergarten and some fourth graders locked me in a classroom and left me there overnight. You were there when some people from my school beat me up at the back of the school after the 6th grade dance and left me out there with a broken wrist and a bruised face. I've seen you in plenty of other situations that i was stuck in. And I see you now. But you aren't here because of me, aren't you?"

Pitch disappeared from the tree and walked out of the shadows in front of Aeola. "Ah, yes. I vaguely remember those. And you are right, I am not here for you." He waved his hand towards the sound of the shouting and sirens. "I came here for these people. Something that you must know: I do not create fear. It is my source of power and I can make others fear, but I cannot create it. Only the individuals can do that, and then I feed off of it. Which is why I came here. A tornado recently passed through this place, and it created such a large amount of fear that I couldn't resist coming over here." The wind spirit looked down. "You did not answer my question earlier."

"Hm? What question?"

"What is a spirit like you doing in this place?"

"Who the hell did you think caused the damn tornado?" Aeola snapped at him.

Pitch raised an eyebrow. "You...did all of this?" He looked around. "You are quite destructive."

'Shut up."

He walked towards her. "Now, now, there is no need to b-"

"Don't!" Aeola shouted.

Just when Pitch was about five feet away from her, Aeola had taken out her bow and was pointing an arrow at the nightmare king. She growled, "If you come any closer to me I _swear_ I will shoot off your fucking balls and string 'em up on this tree."

Pitch chuckled and crossed his arms. "My goodness. Such vulgar language and...ah, _interesting_ threats. I only wish to speak with you. It's been a while since I actually talked to someone. And I do believe that you haven't talked with anyone in quite some time, either. Don't you want to have a friend?"

Aeola scowled. "No. I don't want a friend. And I especially don't want to be friends with someone like you!"

"And why is that, my dear?"

"Dude, you don't get it!"

"...'Dude?'"

Aeola groaned. "You said it yourself. You're the king of nightmares. I don't need to be around someone who likes to freak out people for a living. And I don't need friends. I'm...perfectly fine on my own." Her voice faltered, which made Pitch pity her. Aeola slung her bow behind her back and turned around. "Oh, and one more thing. Don't go around calling kids 'my dear.' It's creepy as fuck, man. Later."

The wind spirit flew off, getting away from her mistakes and from the boogeyman. The emotions that were boiling inside her were still there, but there was a part of her that regretted not talking to Pitch longer. He wasn't trying to hurt her or anything, and he seemed okay. But Aeola shook it off.

Pitch looked up at the sky, thinking about the young spirit. He liked talking to her, and he felt like they could relate to each other in a way. But there was one thing that was bothering him. Something that she said to him that made him think.

What kind of name is 'dude'?

* * *

**What's up guys?**

**Alright, this chapter took me a while to write because I had a terrible case of writer's block...and I have summer school and summer homework and family stuff and I was watching a walkthrough for The Last of Us (since i can't actually get the game) and I played The Walking Dead: 400 Days a few days ago. They were pretty awesome. But here's the chapter. I apologize for it taking so long!**

**I figured that there had to be at least ONE chapter with Aeola not being able to control her powers. I mean, she is an elemental spirit, like Jack. They sometimes have those moments, but this one was pretty traumatizing for her since it was the first time that this kind of stuff happened to the poor thing. **

**Also some headcannons for Pitch. Since he never has a chance to really talk to anyone, you can't really blame him for blabbering to Aeola about himself. Also, i don't think Pitch actually creates fear. Only people can (in a way) do that and he just sucks it all in like a sponge. **

**YES MOTHER NATURE IS PITCH'S DAUGHTER, APPARENTLY. I read about that on the wiki page and i was like "whaaaaaaaaaaaaat". But yeah. It says so in the books and it was a bit of a shocker. The more ya know!**

**the last bit was for comedic purposes. This chapter was all serious and angsty and sad so I had to throw that in. :3**

**NOTE: What happened in Oklahoma was terrible and I'm praying that everyone will recover from the tornado. Let's hope that they'll be alright!**

**Anyways, review, follow, and favorite! Next chapter will be up soon (maybe xP). Enjoy your summer and all that!**

**-psychochirpingmistress**


	5. Chapter 5: Sandman and the Tooth Fairy

**Chapter 5: The Tooth Fairy and the Sandman**

"Augustus!" AJ whispered. "Augustus!" He leaned over from the top bunk. "Augustuuuuuuuuuuuus!"

Augustus moaned in his sleep and turned over to the side. AJ threw his Hulk fist at his brother and knocked on the side of the bed. "Wake up! Augustus!"

"What do you want? I'm sleepy," said Augustus, rubbing his head from the impact of the Hulk fist.

"Does your mouth still hurt?" AJ asked.

"Just a little bit. But it's getting a whole lot better. What about you? Does yours hurt?"

"Nah. Hey, can I see your tooth again?"

"As long as I get to see yours."

"Deal."

The two five year old twins traded their teeth and examined them. Augustus gasped.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed. "I didn't know your tooth's got blood on it!"

'Don't touch the bloody part!" AJ ordered. "I want the Tooth Fairy to see it cuz she might feel bad for me and give me extra coins."

"She won't give you extra coins for blood! She gives another dollar if it's a big tooth. You lost your sharp tooth (((his canine tooth))). I lost my molar, so I'm getting more money than you!"

"Nuh-uh! The Tooth Fairy doesn't do that! Where'd ya hear that from?"

Augustus hesitated. "...Um...Kelly told me. She said so."

Silence.

AJ frowned and looked down. "Well Kelly is a big fat stupid liar."

Augustus jumped up and down on his bed excitedly. "Oooooh, you said a bad word! I'm telling Mom!"

"If you tell Mom, I won't give your tooth back!"

"Then I'll make Mom make you give it back and you'll be in huge trouble!"

The brothers continued arguing until Mrs. Stratford walked into the room. She frowned at them. "Why in the world are you boys still up? It's 10:30. Way past your bedtime."

Augustus went up to his mother and hugged her leg. He looked up at her with big brown eyes. "Momma," he whined. "AJ said the 's' word and took my tooth from me and won't give it back."

Mrs. Stratford looked up at the pouting AJ. "Sweetie, is that true?" she asked.

AJ groaned. "No! we traded teeth. I DID NOT steal it!"

"Alright. But did you say a bad word?"

"Yeah, yeah he did!" Augustus said.

"Shhh, honey."

It took a while before AJ finally nodded. Mrs. Stratford frowned.

"What did I tell you about saying bad words? Apologize to your brother. And both of you give each other your teeth back."

"Fine." AJ stuck his tongue out and threw the molar at his brother. "I'm sorry."

"Hey!" Augustus shouted. He picked up a Lego Loki off the floor and chucked it at AJ, along with his tooth. AJ looked at the toy and frowned.

"What?! Where's Loki's helmet?"

"I dunno."

"And where's his staff? He can't fight the good guys without it!"

"I dunno where it is!"

"You lost it!"

"No I didn't!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Mrs. Stratford sighed. Normally, she wouldn't accept this kind of behavior from her children, but there had been so many fights and arguments in the family that she just gave up trying to stop them. Also, she was tired from walking around so much with the five month old child growing inside of her, so she really needed a rest right now.

Someone walked into the room. It was Kyle. He groaned, "Oh my God, Mom. Tell them to shut the hell up. Graduation's tomorrow and I need to sleep, like, NOW."

"Watch your language around the boys," Mrs. Stratford snapped. She turned to the twin boys, who were now throwing little Lego men at each other. "Alright, you two. That's enough. Time to get to bed. Make sure you put your teeth under your pillows so that the Tooth Fairy can give you money tonight."

"Oh, come on, Mom," said Kyle. "The Tooth Fairy? Really?"

"Shhhh! Don't. Say. A word!" Mrs. Stratford said in a hushed tone. "Don't ruin it for them! They're only kids. And it was your fault that they lost their teeth."

"I thought it'd be funny to see them play hockey on their skate boards."

"They whacked each other with their hockey sticks and crashed into the trash cans."

"But it was funny."

"That's enough, Kyle! Go to bed!" Mrs. Stratford walked over to her two sons and kissed their foreheads. "And don't even think about staying up to see her! She won't come if you do that!" A draft came in from the window and she shivered. "Goodness, it's freezing. Make sure you boys cover up. Good night!"

As their mother left the room, AJ and Augustus hid under their covers and whispered to each other excitedly. Kyle leaned against the doorway, smiling.

"So," he said. "Excited for the Tooth Fairy?"

"Yeah!" the twins exclaimed. AJ's head peeked out from under the blankets. "She's gonna give us sooooo much money!"

"No she's not. 'Cuz she's not real."

The two boys sat up suddenly and gasped. Augustus pointed a finger at Kyle. "Liar! She is to real!"

Kyle rolled his eyes. "No she's not! Mom only wants you to think that to get your hopes up. You wanna know who really puts the coins under your pillow? Mom does!"

"No she doesn't!" AJ said. "You're just jealous cuz you can't get money from the Tooth Fairy anymore and we do."

"I told you, there's no such thing as the Tooth Fairy!"

"Oh my God, Kyle, shut up!" Aeola snapped at him. She had come in earlier to check up on her little brothers (and her little brothers only), hoping that she wouldn't walk in on another argument. It was about two weeks after the tornado, so she figured that her family would be nice to each other. Of course, that was too much to ask for. Aeola knew that her 18 year-old brother would ruin the Tooth Fairy and all the other fairy tale characters for AJ and Augustus, since he was the one who persuaded her that the Easter Bunny wasn't real when she was only 8. If only her family could see her, then she would have some words with Kyle...

"If she's not real," Augustus said. "Then...how come Kelly said she saw her when she lost her second tooth?"

Silence again. Aeola stared at Augustus. She remembered telling them that, and it was true. Little 7 year-old Kelly Stratford lost one of her front teeth and pretended to be asleep that night to see the tooth fairy. She wasn't disappointed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw what she thought was a hummingbird with blue, green and red feathers. But as it came closer, Kelly was surprised to see that it had a human mouth and little hands that carried her coin. The little fairy slipped it under her pillow, grabbed the tooth, and quickly flew off into the night sky. Ever since then, Kelly had tried to stay up whenever she lost her tooth, but always fell asleep before she could see the Tooth Fairy.

Aeola had told the twins that story last year. Ever since then, they've been excited to lose their teeth so they could catch a glimpse of the famous fairy. She was happy that Augustus remembered her story and that he said her name and no argument broke out after saying it. But then her happiness went away when Kyle snapped at Augustus.

"She was lying! Kelly never saw the Tooth Fairy!" His voice was angry. "She always made up stuff like that to mess with you."

"NO!" Augustus yelled. "She was telling the truth! She wouldn't lie about that!"

AJ covered his ears. "Can we please stop?"

"Well, she did lie about that!" Kyle's voice cracked. "And she lied about everything else! All those stories she always told us? Yup! Lies!"

"You boys be quiet in there!" Mr. Stratford shouted from the other room. "There are people in the house trying to sleep!"

"Kelly doesn't lie to us," said Augustus in a hushed voice. "Ever."

Kyle snorted. "Sure." He frowned at AJ, who had tears in his eyes. "Suck it up, AJ. Quit being such a pussy."

Okay, that was uncalled for.

Blood boiling under her skin, Aeola sprinted over to Kyle and punched his head...or at least, she tried to, but her fist went straight through him. It didn't stop her, though. She punched and kicked Kyle, screaming curses and threats at him. He could not hear her or be harmed by her, but Aeola pretended it did. Why does he need to be such a jerk? Even if he doesn't believe in any of that stuff it doesn't mean that he has to ruin it for others. And there was absolutely no need for Kyle to call her little brother a pussy for just crying. What was his problem?

Eventually, Aeola gave up trying to punch Kyle and instead blasted him with a strong wind. Kyle fell back and hit his head hard against the frame of the door. Aeola laughed. It was the closest to a punch that she could get and it was just as satisfying as one.

Augustus began to crack up. AJ had recovered from his sadness and joined his twin in laughing at Kyle's incident. Kyle got up, cursing quietly and glaring at his siblings.

"That wasn't funny!" he snapped at them. He winced. "Ow...that really hurts!"

"You got...y-you got karm...karma!" AJ said as he tried to control his laughter.

"Shut up! There's no such thing as karma!" Kyle groaned in frustration. "Ugh, I'm going to bed!"

"See you later, buttface!" Augustus yelled at him as Kyle stormed out of the room and slammed the door.

"Yeah!" AJ exclaimed. "You big fat...PUSSY!"

"Is that a bad word?" Augustus asked.

"I dunno. I don't think so. I think it means cat. They said it in The Aristocats so I think it's good."

"Oh, okay."

As the twins settled themselves back into their beds, Aeola was on the floor and was laughing so hard that there were tears coming out of her eyes. After a while she stopped laughing and got up to talk to her brothers.

"Oh...oh man," Aeola said, panting. "You Little Dudes are the best, you know that? And yes, Augustus. It IS a bad word. Don't you guys go around shouting that word around, alright? It's gonna give Mom a freaking heart attack."

They didn't hear her. Of course they didn't. Aeola knew they can't, but she pretended that they did. She hadn't talked much with anyone for a while. She enjoyed talking to the Easter Bunny, Jack Frost (although, they didn't really talk too much), and even Pitch, despite the fact that he's supposedly evil and all that. But those conversations were so brief. Aeola thought about finding them and speaking with them again, but she didn't want to bother them and she didn't know where their homes were. Besides, she figured she was just a minor spirit. Why would they want to hang out with her?

Augustus reached over from his bed and turned off the lights. He chuckled. "Aw, AJ, that was the funniest thing ever."

"I know, right?" AJ replied back.

It was quiet for a bit. Then Augustus spoke again. "Do you really think it was karma?"

"Yeah," AJ said. "He was being mean so something bad happened to him. I think that's how karma works."

"Close enough," Aeola said.

"Maybe it wasn't karma," suggested Augustus. "Maybe...maybe it was Kelly."

Aeola's heart almost stopped. "What?" both her and AJ said at the same time. Augustus shifted in his bed.

"I mean, what if it was Kelly's ghost? Haunting us because she's mad?"

Silence.

"What makes you think that?" AJ asked quietly.

"It makes sense, doesn't it? Like, when all of us were fighting that one time, do you remember when that wind blew and broke the screen to that window and broke the glass cup? Maybe Kelly heard us and got really angry. And when Kyle was saying mean stuff about her and called you a...a pussy? And then another wind blew and pushed him and he got hurt? It was probably Kelly and she got mad at him. She would do that kind of stuff, right?"

Now Aeola was on her knees thinking about what Augustus had said. It was all true. He figured everything out. Except she wasn't a ghost and she wasn't haunting anyone.

AJ sighed. "Yeah. She would."

"Right? So it's gotta be Kelly. Like, her ghost or something."

"I don't want to talk about Kelly right now." AJ sniffled. "I wanna go to sleep now. I wanna get stuff from the Tooth Fairy."

"Fine."

The boys became silent, but began talking again after a while since they could not fall asleep. Aeola was still thinking about their conversation. Is that what Augustus really thinks? How did he figure everything out? Then she thought about AJ and how he cried when they argued about her and didn't want to talk about her. Did he really miss her that much? Aeola felt a pang of terrible sadness. So badly did she want them to see her so she could talk to them...

"Ughhhh," AJ groaned. "I can't sleep."

"Good!" Augustus said. "That's good! I wanted to stay up to see the Tooth Fairy anyways. I even have a butterfly net so I can ca-"

Two streams of golden sand came in from the window and spiraled around the twins' heads, causing them to fall asleep instantly. Aeola gasped. What was this? She touched the sand and began to feel tired for some reason. A memory came into her head, reminding her of an old story that was told to her about sand and sleeping. What was it about again? It was...it was...Suddenly she remembered. The Sandman.

"Come on, Sandy!" a lady outside said. "I think they're over here!"

She sounded very close by. Aeola hid in her brothers' sliding door closet and shut the door. The woman from outside spoke again and sounded like she was in the room.

"Oh, they're so precious. Can you give them really good dreams tonight?" It was quiet for a bit. "Alright! Thank you. Oh! And you two can go on ahead and get their teeth now."

Aeola opened the door a little bit to see who was talking and she couldn't believe her eyes. Hovering next to the bunk beds was a winged lady covered in colorful feathers and a tiny man who seemed to be made entirely out of golden sand. It was the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman. But they weren't alone. Two little hummingbird creatures with human arms came out from under AJ and Augustus' pillows holding their teeth. They flew up to the Tooth Fairy and chirped excitedly.

"Look at this!" Toothiana exclaimed while she looked at the teeth. "Augustus lost his molar already! I really didn't expect him to lose it so soon! Normally, it's the teeth closest to the lips that come off. Oh, wow! The canine tooth's got blood on it! Awww! it's like AJ knows I like that! See?" She tried to show the tooth to Sandy but he backed away and shook his head. "Oh right. You know sometimes I forget that not everyone likes that kind of stuff. But it's just so fascinating, you know?"

Sandy shrugged. Tooth turned to her fairies. "Did you make sure they have their money?" The fairies chirped in reply. "Good! That's great! Good job, ladies! Now take the teeth back to the palace and put them in their containers, okay?"

The two fairies flew off. Sandy noticed something under Augustus' blanket so he picked it up and showed it to Tooth.

"What?!" she exclaimed when she saw the butterfly net. "Was he really going to try to catch me?" Tooth smiled. "That's actually kind of cute. It reminds me of this one time not too long ago when one of my fairies really did get caught by this little girl. Her name was Lilly, and she nabbed my fairy with a butterfly net right when she didn't expect it, poor thing. Anyways, she was able to escape Lilly and Lilly just went right back to sleep since she was so tired and forgot about the whole thing the next morning. Funny thing was that my fairy forgot to bring a coin, so she searched the house to find some sort of currency to put under Lilly's pillow. She grabbed what she thought was a one dollar bill and put it under the pillow, but we later found out that it was a one hundred dollar bill. So it was such a hassle to replace the bill with a coin, but we were able to fix it. And there was another time when-"

Aeola had stepped back and accidentally pushed a hanger off of it's place and it fell to the ground. Tooth and Sandy froze.

"What was that?" Tooth asked.

Oh, crap, Aeola thought. I'm so busted. She hunched down and braced herself for whatever the Sandman and the Tooth Fairy were going to do to her.

Then there was a flash of gold and the wind spirit suddenly felt very tired. Sandy had sent a stream of his dream sand into the closet. Everything around her became blurry, and then there was darkness.

* * *

"It's...she's that new wind spirit, remember?" Tooth said. After Aeola had fallen asleep they opened the door to find her curled up on the ground. "Her name's...what was it? Ooh! It was Aeola, I think."

Sandy nodded. He watched his sand display an image above the young spirit's head. Aeola's dreams. It was of her flying, spinning and laughing and doing back flips in the air.

Toothiana knelt down and looked at Aeola and then at her brothers. "She used to be their older sister, no? She probably came here to see her family." Tooth's heart felt heavy. "I'm sure they really miss each other."

The dream sand version of Aeola flew over to the dream sand versions of AJ and Augustus, who were both having an interesting battle. AJ was dressed up as Thor and he was trying to smash Augustus (who was dressed up as Captain America) with Mjolnir. But once they saw Aeola, everyone turned back to normal. AJ and Augustus' superhero costumes turned into normal clothes. Aeola's weapons disappeared and she began walking instead of flying, turning back into her mortal form, Kelly. She ran up to AJ and tapped his shoulder and he started to chase her. AJ eventually tagged her and he and Augustus sprinted away from their sister. Kelly caught up to them and tackled them to the ground. As they laughed, the real Aeola, AJ, and Augustus sighed in their sleep.

Sandy and Tooth smiled. They always felt good whenever they make children happy. Helping them remember good memories and giving them good dreams...it was the only reason why they're Guardians.

"We should probably get going," Tooth said. "I need to get back to my palace and you need to give good dreams to everyone."

Sandy nodded. An arrow appeared above his head and pointed at Aeola.

"Oh, we can leave her here. We can apologize for putting her to sleep another time. Besides, I don't want to bother her."

The two Guardians went out the window, bid each other goodbye, and left.

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**HELLO!**

**So this chapter was nice, I guess. Some bits I got lazy on. Sorry. **

**Now I shall reply to some people's reviews and stuff because I found all of them! **

**Ch. 1**

**Cardiffrift: THANK YOUU! And thank you for following/favoriting! :D**

**Merlin'sPen: thank you for the tips, man!**

**Ch. 2**

**The guest dude: thanks! I'll do that!**

**Ch. 3**

**Merlin'sPen: THANK YOU**

**andrea bacallado: I will keep on making this "magic"!**

**Ch. 4**

**Bunny: thank you! :3**

**Merlin'sPen: you should thank TV and my dirty friends for the threats!**

**The bit in the chapter where Tooth talks about Lilly is kinda referring to Modern Family when Cam and Mitch accidentally give Lilly 100 bucks for her tooth. I thought it'd be fun to throw that in ;)**

**Mjinolr is Thor's hammer, in case you were wondering.**

**Favorite, review, and follow! I love you all!**

**-psychochirpingmistress**


	6. Chapter 6: Rivalry

**CAUTION: THERE IS CURSING AND NAUGHTY WORDS COMING UP.**

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**A/N: There are people talking in other languages here and I translated them. when you see a word/sentence between ("-"), that's the translation of the sentence/word. Sorry if some of the letters are sqaures. I used google translate so some of the letters are sqaures. xP**

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**Chapter 6: Rivalry**

The coolness of the water made Aeola feel momentarily relaxed. It would have been nice, except there was a very angry sea god who was trying to pull her down to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean so he can kill her.

Aeola thrashed and punched at the current pulling her down. Her body begged for oxygen. She suddenly stopped going down, but some invisible force kept her from moving. There were things moving in the distance. Men and women with beautiful tails that shimmered in the light. Merpeople. About a dozen of them gathered around Aeola, giggling and whispering. They couldn't wait to see the action. Some of them parted to make way for the god of the sea, Triton.

Triton was incredibly handsome, but it didn't make up for his arrogance. He was fit and very muscular. His skin was a light color and had deep green eyes. His two (yes, two) dark blue mermaid tails twisted and untwisted, like they had minds of their own. He was wearing an unnecessarily large amount of armor on his body and he held his big, flashy trident that he only uses for showing off instead of fighting in his right hand.

Triton pulled off his helmet and his long, black locks spilled out, making all of the mermaids (and even one merman) swoon. He smirked at the squirming Aeola.

"Hello, wind spirit," he said. "Nice of you to drop in. How long has it been since we last met? Three months? It only felt like yesterday." He paused. "What was that you said? Hm? I'm sorry. I can't understand you. What's wrong with you? Oh, I see. The water is choking you. Why are you looking at me like that? You want me to do something about it?" He laughed. "Ha! You are very funny! I don't think I'll help you there. How about we watch you drown instead? Just like I did to that dreadful Misenus so long ago."

Triton turned to his people. "Would all of you enjoy that?"

All of the merpeople except a few cheered. The sea god smiled but became filled with rage when he saw that Aeola was flipping the bird at him.

_"Boreíte katáptysto ypi̱rétria_! ("You despicable wench!")" He bellowed. "How dare you make that gesture with your hand! I am Triton! Son of Poseidon, god of the sea and earthquakes! I shall not tolerate this from you!" Triton took a deep breath and smiled evilly. "How about instead of watching you drown, I stab you and watch you suffer? That would be much more entertaining and satisfying for me, wouldn't it?"

Just then, Aeola broke free of the grasp of the force that was holding her and shot up and out of the water, leaving a trail of tiny bubbles. Once she was in the air, she immediately flew over to the shore of a nearby island and began to throw up and cough out all of the salt water onto the sand. When she was done, she crawled away from the vomit and collapsed on the wet sand. She ignored the small waves that were splashing onto her. All she did was stare up at the morning sky and think about how she screwed up big time.

During mid-July, Triton and the Hawaiian god of the rain, Lono, were fighting playfully near the east coast of the U.S. Then Triton became angry with Lono because Lono caught Triton by surprise and hit him in the stomach while they were fighting. The two began to argue, and as Triton's rage rose, a storm began to grow, forming a hurricane. Aeola happened to be passing by and tried to stop the fighting. She saw what Triton was creating and tried to calm him down and it basically went like this:

Aeola: You need to chill out! Look at what you're doing!

Triton: So?

Aeola: "So"? You're making a hurricane form! You need to stop it before it starts hurting people here!

Triton: _Anói̱to korítsi_ ("Foolish girl!")! You really must be new around here. I have been making hurricanes and storms for thousands of years! It is my nature. I simply cannot just stop!

Lono: I agree with the wind spirit here. I advise that you control your temper so that you do not harm the people that reside here, _lawai`a_. ("Fisherman.")

Triton: Stop calling me that! I do not even know what it means! And what do you mean "control my temper"? I AM IN COMPLETE CONTROL!

Aeola: Seriously, you better calm down or else!

Triton: Or else what?

Aeola: Or else I'll take away your power over the wind!

Triton: You cannot do that to me!

Aeola: I am the motherfucking spirit of the motherfucking wind! I can let people have the ability to control my wind, and I can take away that ability whenever I want, too!

Triton: You wouldn't dare-

Aeola: *snaps fingers* There! It's gone! Say goodbye to your power over my wind, because you won't be getting it back anytime soon!

Triton: _Tsoula_! ("Slut!") _Ai gamisou, poutana_! ("Fuck you, hooker!") Give me back my power or else you will suffer the consequences!

Aeola: Oh no, I'm so scared! What're you gonna do? Splash me to death?

Triton: _Tha boroúse na steílei éna kýma neroú psi̱lótera apó káthe ktiríou í̱ to vounó se sas! Boró̱ na kalései ta pio ágria plásmata ti̱s thálassas na sas kommatákia! egó̱-_ ("I could send a wave of water taller than any building or mountain at you! I can summon the most vicious creatures of the sea to tear you to shreds! I-")

Aeola: Would you mind speaking English? Not alll of us here speak Greek, idiot.

Triton: _Sio̱pí̱ gló̱ssa asi̱ménia sas_! ("Silence your silver toungue!")

Aeola: What?

And the arguing went on and on until Aeola called Triton a cock-sucking bastard and left. She wasn't very good at calming people down. If someone begins to make her mad, then she fights back with words and sometimes her fists. Only later did Aeola realize that she made a huge mistake making enemies with the god of the sea. She knew that he would get her back, but she didn't think that he would hold such a huge grudge against her for three months and then try to kill her.

As Aeola pondered on the situation she was currently in, she didn't notice the giant wave that was about to crash down on her until the very last second. She shot up high into the sky and looked down. The wave had taken out a chunk of the beach, leaving a large hole filled with water and confused sand crabs and some fish. Triton burst out of the water and wondered where Aeola had gone off to. Aeola smirked and took out three arrows and then three ping pong ball-sized cherry bombs out of a pouch.

Cherry bombs are not too terribly dangerous. They are mainly used for pranks and small things. But Aeola had stolen the pouch and these cherry bombs from the Japanese god of explosions, Bakugami. She never used them before, so she wasn't exactly sure if they were very explosive. But she figured that they were, since the god of explosions made them.

Aeola tied the cherry bombs to her arrows. Then one at a time, she shot the arrows downwards and used the wind to direct them to the area that Triton was in. For a moment, nothing happened. Then...

_BOOM_!

A wave of water rose up so high that it soaked Aeola's clothes again.

_BOOM!_

A few merpeople were sent flying into the air and they splashed back into the ocean.

_BOOM!_

The third explosion caused Triton to end up on the shore of the beach. He seemed to be unconscious. Aeola flew down and clung to the top of a palm tree trunk. She laughed.

"Ha! Not so tough now, huh? That's what you get for-"

Triton's eyes shot open. The water behind Aeola shaped itself into a giant hand and grabbed her. It raised her up and up until they were almost touching the clouds, and then the hand came down and slammed her onto the beach. Aeola felt dizzy and everything around her was blurry. When she moaned and rolled onto her back, Triton was on top of her, pointing his trident at her chest. His angry expression reminded Aeola of the expression that her mother had when she was mad at her for spraying the living room with the garden hose.

"Aeola, spirit of the winds," Triton growled, his voice trembling with rage. " You have humiliated me in front of my people and refused to give me my power over the gales. _Tha ypoféroun_ ("you will now suffer.")."

Triton raised his trident. Aeola let out a noise that sounded like a combination of yelping and choking. _He's going to kill me,_ she thought._ He can't kill me, can he? I thought I was immortal. What if he can kill me? Oh shit, he's going to kill me!_ She held her breath and shut her eyes so she wouldn't see it coming.

"Don't!" a girl shouted out.

Aeola opened her eyes. A pretty red-haired mermaid grabbed Triton's arm before he brought the trident down. He snapped his head towards her but his expression softened.

"_Ti káneis, Aphrodisia_ (What are you doing, Aphrodisia?")?" Triton asked.

_"Agápi̱ mou_," Aphrodisia said in a soothing voice. _"Mi̱n to káneis af̱tó. Eínai móno éna paidí. Afí̱ste ti̱n na eínai_ ("My love, she is only a child. Let her be.")."

"_Allá den échei na mas epitéthi̱ke! Ti? Mí̱po̱s aplá thélete na kátso̱ ekeí, enó̱ prospatheí na mas vlápsei?_ ("But she has attacked us! What? Do you just want me to sit there while she tries to hurt us?")"

"_Í̱tan yperaspízetai móno ton eaf̱tó ti̱s! Sas symvoulév̱o̱ na ti̱n afí̱sei na páei gia tó̱ra. Vláptoun enós paidioú eínai éna apó ta cheirótera enklí̱mata. Akóma kai oi álloi archízoun na syneidi̱topoioún óti. Thélete na eínai gno̱stí̱ o̱s foniá to̱n paidió̱n?_ ("She was only defending herself! I advise that you let her go for now. Harming a child is one of the worst of crimes. Even the others are beginning to realize that. Do you want to be known as the slayer of children?")"

Triton looked behind his lover. The merpeople were no longer enjoying what they were seeing. He sighed. He commanded the water to carry him and Aphrodisia back to the water. Then Triton suddenly stopped and pointed his trident at Aeola again.

"If I ever see you again, I will not hesitate to unleash my power on to you. You have been warned, wind spirit."

Triton swung his trident and cut Aeola's cheek. Then the water pulled him and the merpeople back into the ocean. Aeola brought her hand up to her bloody cheek and collapsed on the sand. Her whole body ached from being slammed onto the beach and she was exhausted. Aeola sighed.

"_Braccas meas vescimini_, Triton," she muttered. She didn't really know what it meant. She learned that from reading The Lightning Thief. Aeola's eyes began to grew heavy. Before she fell asleep, one thought came to her head:

Triton's such a dick.

* * *

**Hi!**

**Sorry guys for not updating for a while. I just came back from San Diego, the land where psychologically damaged sea mammals are forced to perform in front of a bunch of sweaty tourists. And I was also busy selling my soul to Candy Crush Saga and fangirling over Hiccup's new look.**

**Andrea Bacallado: and thank you for thanking me for thanking you!**

**Merlin'sPen: yay for avengers! and thank you! :D**

**I figured that Aeola had to have an enemy besides Pitch and I decided it to be Triton, one of the greek gods of the sea. What an a**, right?**

**Bakugami was based off of Okami. I played Okami this morning so I thought, why not?**

**The bit when Triton calls Aeola a slut and a hooker...well, in the english language, they wouldn't be that offensive. But in Greek, ooohh boy, it's some of the worse insults you could call a woman!**

**Hope you guys like and review and favorite and stuff! Bye!**

**-psychochirpingmistress**


	7. Chapter 7: Rumors

**Reply to reviews:**

**lovelydarkness256: awww yeah!**

**Andrea Bacallado: *spits out juice* haghJAKLHASDVLDSA I'M YOUR FAVORITE WRITER ON FANFIC? BSABCLASDCAIHSDKLA? *takes deep breath* Thank you so much! That's means a lot to me! Do you mind if I frame your review and hang it up on a wall, you precious little angel?**

* * *

**CAUTION: THERE IS A BIT OF CURSING OH NO BRACE YOURSELVES**

**("-") = translation. There was some words that were not translated and that's because I just didn't think there was any need to translate them. By the way, here are the languages that they are going to speak in order: first of Afrikaans, Japanese, Lithuanian, Spanish, and Greek. Sorry for the boxes for the Greek part. Enjoy!**

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**Ch. 7: Rumors**

There are many immortals around the world. Spirits, gods, nymphs, you name it. And they all come from different cultures. They tend to stick to their groups, so they don't really interact with any other spirit or god from another origin. Some are friendly. Some are...well, not so friendly. All of them have different kinds of unique powers and things that they rule over. But they all have one thing in common. They love to gossip.

Being alive for hundreds and thousands of years can get boring. There is the occasional war and a few rebellions that go on, but it's always the same. Fight, fight, fight, a few thousand people die, and then it's resolved. They could go around and mess with the mortals, but they're sometimes too lazy for that. So the most entertaining thing that they like to do was gossip about the other spirits and gods. "Did you hear? Triton's going out with Aphrodisia!" "The nightmare king is coming back!" "I think the Norse gods are going at it again." "The new winter spirit is HOT!" There is always something new. And on the month of October, they talked about Aeola.

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It was a hot summer in South Africa. Ises, the African goddess of the bow and arrow, sat up against a tree near a river. Lying down on the shore was Jengu, a water spirit. He was looking up at the blue sky as he made tiny waves wash up on the dirt.

Ises groaned. "I am bored."

"So am I," Jengu replied back.

"I want to do something."

"Like what?"

Ises thought for a bit. "I do not know. How about mancala?"

"No. Too boring."

"Ampe?"

"We don't have enough people."

"What about stockings?"

"That is a game for girls," Jensu snorted.

"Boys can play, too."

"I do not want to play it, Ises."

Ises sighed. "Well, we are back to square one."

A cheery woman holding a basket of yams popped out of the bushes and shouted, "_Hallo_! ("Hello!")"

The bow and arrow goddess shrieked and jumped up, pointing an arrow at the woman. The woman dropped her basket and put up her hands.

"Oi!" she yelped. "_Moenie my doodmaak nie!_ ("Do not kill me!") I just wanted to say hi!"

Ises lowered her bow and rolled her eyes. "Do not startle me like that, you crazy broad! I almost sent an arrow through your throat!"

"I am very sorry!" The woman bent over to pick up her basket. "I did not mean to scare you like that, Ises."

Jengu looked over and waved. "Hello, Aha Njoku."

The yam goddess smiled and waved back. "Hello, Jengu. So, how are the both of you doing?"

Ises and Jengu groaned obnoxiously.

"We have absolutely nothing to do," said Ises.

"I am so incredibly bored that I was even watching the grass grow over there earlier," said Jengu. "Aha Njoku. I was watching grass. GROW. For three hours. Until Ises came here. But we didn't really do anything. Ugh." He put his arms out. "Save us from the boredom, Aha! SAVE US!"

"Oh, stop being so dramatic, _dom kop_. ("stupid head.")"

Aha Njoku chuckled. "Alright then. Well, I picked up some juicy gossip from a mermaid before I came here. Do you wish to hear what she said?"

The two immortals scrambled to her, eager to hear anything that she said, as long as it kept them entertained. "Tell us, tell us!" they begged.

"Okay." Aha Njoku sat down in front of them. "You know about that new wind spirit that was born back in March? Aeola?"

"Yes," Jengu said.

"No," Ises replied, frowning.

"Well," the yam goddess continued. "Mother Nature brought her in. She is only about fifteen, I think. She controls the wind very well, and she has a bow and arrow just like you, Ises."

Ises grinned. "I want to meet her. She sounds interesting."

"Oh, I'm not sure about that. Aeola is very shy. She doesn't really talk to anybody. And she got into a big fight with that sea god."

"Triton?" Jengu asked.

"Yes. The mermaid said that they were battling with each other. And Triton was about to kill her until Aphrodisia stopped him from doing so."

"Why did she do that?"

"I do not know. The mermaid thinks it was because she did not want to be the girlfriend of a man who slays children or something like that. I think it's because she just doesn't want the girl to get hurt."

Jengu grinned. "Ah, Aphrodisia...lucky Triton. She is the most beautiful mermaid in the entire world."

Ises punched him. _"Hoekom het jy nog nie 'n drukgang op daardie meisie?_ ("Why do you even have a crush on that girl?") Someone who is that pretty is untrustworthy."

"Of course you would say that. You're just jealous. I know it."

"_Jaloers_?! ("Jealous?!")"

"Yup." Jengu crossed his arms and smirked. "Completely jealous."

Ises replied back to him by calling him a "_aaklige bliksem_" and tackled him. They punched and scratched each other, calling each other vicious things. Aha Njoku stood up.

"Well," she said, taking a small purple bead out of her pouch. "It seems you two are not bored anymore. I shall be going now."

The goddess threw the bead onto the ground and disappeared in the purple smoke, leaving Jengu and Ises still on the ground wrestling.

* * *

Bakugami was in the form of a boar heading towards a large cherry blossom tree at the top of a hill near a small village. The cool evening air felt pleasant after a day of working on his cherry bombs and fireworks. Sitting at the base of the tree were four other deities: Kaya Nu Hima, the goddess of herbs; Kamado No Kami, the god of kitchen stoves, Sakuya, the spirit of the cherry blossom tree they were sitting under; and Tama-No-Ya, the god of jewelers. They were all sitting down eating mochi and discussing about current events.

"_Kon'nichiwa, yūjin_ ("Hello, friends.")," Bakugami greeted.

The gods said hello and offered him a seat. Bakugami lied down on his side and politely declined the plate of mochi that was given to him.

"What are all of you talking about?" he asked sleepily.

"Oh," Kaya Nu Hima said, cheeks full of the sweet treat. "We were talking about that new wind spirit."

"Aeola is her name," said Tama-No-Ya. "You know, she is only sixteen, I believe."

Kamodo No Kami noticed that Bakugami was growling viciously and asked, "Are you alright?"

"_Sono imaimashī kaze no seishin_! ("That damn wind spirit!")" he bellowed, startling the other gods. " _Ano chīsana mikkoku-sha wa sū-shūkan mae ni watashi no yoi sakura bakudan no ikutsu ka o nusunda!_("That little snitch stole a few of my good cherry bombs a few weeks ago!") Sneaked right in my workshop and got them!"

"Really?" Tama-No-Ya tilited his head to the side. "That explains it."

"Explains what?"

Kaya Nu Hima swallowed the mochi that was in her mouth and spoke, "Well, about a week ago she got into this huge fight with Triton, the Greek god of the sea. A mermaid told me all about it. And apparently, she used explosives."

"_Hai_ ("Yes.")," Sakuya said. "_Watashi wa kanojo ga kanojo no yajirushi to shottotoriton ni sorera o musubitsukete iru koto to shinjite imasu. Dare mo kizutsukenakattaga, toriton wa hijō ni okotte seichō shi, kare no gārufurendo wa sō suru koto kara kare o teishi suru made, kanojo o korosou to shita._ ("I believe that she tied them to her arrows and shot Triton. No one was hurt, but Triton grew very angry and tried to kill her until his girlfriend stopped him from doing so.")"

"Why?" Bakugami asked.

Kamado No Kami broke in before Sakuya could say anything. "Because she's a snob, that's why. She doesn't want to be the girlfriend of someone who likes to kill little children. She didn't want a bad reputation."

"_Anata wa, kanojo ni tsuite no koto o iubekide wanai,_ ("You should not say that about her.")" Sakuya warned. "_Kanojo wa anata ga kanojo ni tsuite katatta nanika o mitsukeru kamo shirenai to, kanojo wa ikatteirudarou_. ("She might find out what you said about her and she'll be mad.")"

"Bah, Aphrodisia won't find out. It doesn't matter."

Bakugami grunted. "So she used my bombs, eh? At least she used them for a good cause."

"You do not like Triton, right?" Tama-No-Ya asked.

"_Hai_ ("Yes."). He is a little spoiled brat who likes to show off a lot. It's good that Aeola girl fought with him. When was the last time anyone has fought him?"

They all thought for a moment. "One-hundred and fifty years ago, I think," Kamado No Kami said. "Ba really got into it with Triton, but she eventually lost a battle and never fought him again."

"_Sō_ (That's right.)," said Sakuya.

"So you are not mad at the wind spirit for stealing your bombs?" asked Kayu Nu Hima.

The god of explosions snorted. "Mad? Of course not. In all honesty, I would have given anything to go see that Aeola girl beat up Triton. It would be nice to see someone do something that we've always wanted to do to that little brat."

* * *

_"Taigi ji bandė veriantis jam?_ ("So she tried stabbing him?")"

_"Ji padarė dūris jį. Tritonas buvo teisus ant jos ir pasiruošę iškirpti savo drąsos su tridantis, bet ji paėmė peilį iš jos makšties ir nabbedhim teisę į pilvą!_ ("She did stab him. Triton was right on top of her and ready to cut out her guts with his trident, but she took out a knife out of her sheath and nabbed him right in the abdomen!")"

_"Tikrai? Dieve mano, ji yra sudėtinga._ ("Really? My goodness, she is tricky.")"

The Lithuanian god of grain, Krumine, picked up a heavy wooden ball, about the size of a bowling ball. Ten feet away from him were nine "skittles" (which were an old version of bowling pins) set up in a neat order. It took Ganiklis (the Lithuanian god of shepherds) a while to set them up because the grass was so bumpy and they kept on falling over. He watched carefully as Krumine stared intently at the skittles for a bit.

_"Aš pasirinksiu trankyti per priekinį dešinįjį kėglių_ ("I choose to knock over the front right quarter.")," Krumine said.

Ganiklis shrugged. Krumine threw the ball and it rolled over and hit all of the skittles...except the one he was aiming at. The grain god groaned.

"Ha!" Ganiklis cheered. "_Aš laimėti! Imk!_ ("I win! Take that!")"

Krumine rolled his eyes. _"Nepriklausomai! Aš vis dar laimėjo daugiau žaidimų nei jūs! Leiskite iš naujo. Aš noriu žaisti dar kartą._ ("Whatever! I still won more games than you! Let's reset. I want to play again.")"

As they put the skittles back up, Ganiklis asked, "_Taigi, ką manote apie šią naują vėjo dvasia?_ (So, what do you think about that new wind spirit?")"

Krumine thought for a bit. "_Aš tikrai nežino. Bet ji neatrodo kaip žmogus, norėčiau būti aplink. Ji atrodo labai ... Na, nėra draugiškas._ ("I don't really know. But she doesn't sound like the kind of person I would like to be around. She seems very...well, not friendly.")"

"Pffft._ Na, jums nebus labai draugiški, jei kas nors bandė skandinti tave, dabar jūs?_ ("Well, you wouldn't be very friendly if someone tried to drown you, now would you?")"

"_Manau, ne._ ("I guess not.")"

"_O, ir aš taip pat girdėjau, kad ji net bandė susprogdinti Triton su bombų krūva._ ("Oh, and I also heard that she even tried to blow up Triton with a bunch of bombs.")"

Krumine cringed. "Ouch. _Priminkite man ne gauti ant blogosios pusės, jei mes kada nors susidurti ją._ ("Remind me not to get on her bad side if we ever encounter her.")"

"_Sutiko_ ("Agreed.")." Ganiklis stood up and cracked his back. "_Gerai, mes ketiname būti žaisti kaip anksčiau. Ir šį kartą, neturi būti gerklės nevykėlis vėl, kai aš laimėti._ ("Alright, we are going to be playing it the same as before. And this time, don't be a sore loser again when I win.")"

"_Jis yra._ ("It is on.")" Krumine smiled.

* * *

The Mexican goddess of drunkenness, Mayahuel, stumbled into the grassy area where the two other goddesses were weaving colorful baskets. Ahnt Alis Pok' shrieked. She was a child goddess (who seemed to be the age of 7), but she was only two feet tall. She dropped her basket and ran into the bushes.

"Mayahuel!" shouted Chulavete, the goddess of the morning star. She groaned. _"Usted estúpida!_ ("You stupid woman!") You have frightened Ahnt!"

"_Ayuda! Ayuda_! ("Help! Help!")" Ahnt Alis Pok' shouted. _"Hay una mujer borracha miedo nos ataca!_ ("There's a scary drunk lady attacking us!")"

Chulavete ran to her and picked up the child. _"Cálmate._ ("Calm down.") It is only Mayahuel." She frowned at the drunk woman, who was chugging down a bottle of Modelo. "What do you want? We are busy here."

Mayahuel chuckled. "I just wanted some _amigas_ to talk to." Her words were slurred. _"Y tú eres_ my friends, are you not?"

"If by friends, you mean people who you call when you are so drunk that you cannot even walk? Then sure. Whatever."

Chulavete put down Ahnt Alis Pok' and the child ran back to her basket. Mayahuel staggered over to a soft patch of grass and sat down. She threw the empty bottle of Modelo over the nearby fence and took out a bottle of beer out of her bag. As she popped the cap off, Chulavete crossed her arms.

"So what is it that you want to talk about?"

"Eh," Mayahuel shrugged. "Just some rumors I heard. _¿Sabes lo de_ that new wind spirit that was born earlier this year?"

Ahnt Alis Pok' looked up. "You mean Aeola?"

Mayahuel nodded. "_Sí_. She got into _una pelea con_ Triton."

"Who's Triton?"

"He is the Greek god of the sea. _Ahora cierra la trampa, hija._ ("Now shut your trap, child.") Let me finish talking."

Ahnt Alis Pok' pouted and went back to weaving her basket.

"Why were they fighting?" Chulavete asked.

"Well," Mayahuel said. "Triton was just swimming around _en el océano Pacífico_ when that Aeola girl saw him and..." She made a diving motion with her hand. "Whoosh! She dove in and attacked him! Triton was able to put up his trident before she could_ apuñalarlo_ with her knife. They had an underwater battle for a while. Then _la niña no podía respirar_ so she grabbed Triton and brought him above the surface of the water."

"Then what happened?" Ahnt Alis pok' asked eagerly.

"Shhhhhh! Anyways, they continued to _luchar_ until _la espíritu del viento_ got angry and threw some bombs at the other merpeople who were watching."

Ahnt Alis Pok' gasped. "Why would she do that?"

"_No se._ I think it's because she wanted to hurt Triton's people to get back at him. And one of _los tritones_ was so close to one of the bombs that his arm came off and he died from all of the blood loss! Triton was_ tan enojada_ Aeola that he stabbed her right in the stomach!"

The two other goddesses' eyes widened. "No!"

"Yes!" Mayahuel exclaimed. "And Triton wanted to finish her off, but _su novia_, Aphrodite, I think her name is, stopped him from doing that and he did. Then they left the wind spirit _a sufrir_."

They all sat in silence, thinking about what the drunk goddess had said.

"Are you sure that was how it happened?" Chulavete asked with an eyebrow raised.

"_¡Por supuesto!_ I heard it all from a river spirit. Exact same words!"

"Why would Aeola do that?" Ahnt Alis Pok' asked. "Why would she just attack the merpeople?"

Chulavete answered her question before Mayahuel could. "I heard it's because they have this rivalry. Aeola wouldn't let him have his power over the wind, and he's been mad about it ever since. I guess the wind spirit was afraid that he would attack her first or something, so that's why she just dove after him."

Mayahuel waved her had at her. "Sure. Or maybe she is _loco_ and likes to go around and fight people."

"Don't listen to that dreadful woman, _hija_," Chulavete said to Ahnt Alis Pok'. Mayahuel chuckled and took a sip of her beer.

* * *

Jack Frost was flying by a Greek city near the ocean and a river when he heard two other spirits talking in loud voices.

"What?" a girl exclaimed. "No way! That's not how I heard it!"

"I'm not lying!" said a young boy. "She really did that! The other river spirits told me all about it!"

"What are you two talking about?" Jack asked.

The two spirits looked up to see the winter spirit eavesdropping on their conversation. The girl blushed when she realized who he was while the boy only looked confused.

"_Poios sto diáolo eínai af̱tó?_ ("Who the hell is that?")" he asked the girl.

"_Eínai Jack Frost, to pnév̱ma tou cheimó̱na. Thymi̱theíte af̱tón? Égine Guardian pérysi kai voí̱thi̱se na nikí̱sei Pitch._ ("He is Jack Frost, spirit of winter. Remember him? He became a Guardian last year and he helped defeat Pitch.")"

The boy nodded, remembering when all of the deities gossiped about the Guardians defeating Pitch the year before. Jack flew down to them and the girl waved shyly.

"Um...hello Jack," she stuttered.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Hi. Uh, how do you know me?"

Her face lit up. "Oh! Well, um...well, when you and the other Guardians defeated Pitch last year, we all knew about it. Everyone talked about it and we all knew who you were."

"Okay."

Awkward silence. The girl suddenly burst out, "_Agh! Poú eínai oi trópoi mou?_ ("Where are my manners?")" She bowed. "My name's Antevorta. I'm a nymph. O-of that fountain over there. I am the nymph of that fountain...yeah."

The boy waved. "And I'm Hermus. I'm a river god."

"Hello, Antevorta and Hermus," Jack said, giving a bow. "Nice to meet the both of you."

Hermus smiled. Antevorta smiled as well, but in her head, all she was thinking was: OH MY GODS I AM ACTUALLY TALKING TO JACK FROST OH MY GODS OH MY GODS OH MY GODS ALL THE OTHER NYMPHS ARE GOING TO BE SO JEALOUS OH. MY. GODS I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS OKAY OKAY JUST STAY CALM AND DO NOT SAY ANYTHING STUPID.

Jack leaned against his staff. "Anyways, I didn't mean to listen in on your conversation , but I was kind of wondering what the both of you were talking about back there. Must've been really interesting if you guys were practically shouting about it."

Antevorta shrugged. "Oh really nothing. We were just talking about that new wind spirit...ugh, I forgot her name."

Jack frowned. "You mean Aeola?"

"Yeah, yeah! That's her name!"

"Huh." Jack didn't think they'd be talking about her. He hasn't seen her or heard anything about the wind spirit ever since he accidentally pushed her into the pond back then. There were a few times where he went out to go find her to no avail. He wanted to be friends with Aeola since she seemed like a nice person and (this was the main reason) he felt bad for her. Her family was still alive and she couldn't even talk to them. The other spirits and gods never really talked to her and she never really wanted to talk to the other spirits and gods anyways. he just thought that she could use a friend.

"So what did Aeola do?" Jack asked the two immortals.

"Well-" Antevorta began but was cut off by an excited Hermus.

"Aeola got into this really big fight with Triton and then he tried to drown her in the ocean but then she got really mad so she shot out of the water and threw bombs down at him and some merpeople that were watching and all the merpeople exploded and died and Triton got super mad so he sent an army of sharks after her and they attacked her and then he told the sharks to stop and he went up to her and she was practically almost dead and all bloody and Triton was gonna stab her but then she took out her knife and stabbed him a bunch of times and then she flew off and no one's seen her since! It was so _trelós!_ ("crazy")"

Jack was looking down at Hermus in horror. "What? Are you serious?"

"Yeah! The river spirits told me all about it!"

"That's...that's strange."

"Yeah," muttered Antevorta, who was still upset that Hermus had ruined her chance to talk to Jack.

"That's not exactly how it happened," a girl said behind them.

They turned around. A mermaid with beautiful red hair rose put of the ocean water and leaned on a railing. Antevorta and Hermus bowed.

"_Geia sas, Afrodísia_ ("Hello, Aphrodisia.")," they both said in unison.

The mermaid greeted them back. Her green eyes turned to look at Jack, who was staring at her. She smiled.

"Jack Frost, isn't it?" she said. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you. I am Aphrodisia, a maiden of the sea."

Jack shook his head and waved. "Oh...hi. Nice to meet you too."

"What are you doing here?" Antevorta asked. "Aren't you with Triton?"

Aphrodisia smirked. "Not today. I needed to get away from him for a while. He wanted to show me his armor collection, but I said I was going to go back to my home for a few days. He bought it, thank goodness. I don't think I can take anymore of him."

"I'm sorry," Jack said. "This might sound really, really stupid, but Triton is the Greekgod of the sea, am I right?"

"Yes. And I am currently dating that _eleeinoú_. ("Wretched man.")"

"Okay. Sorry."

"No worries, child." Aphrodisia turned to Hermus. "Now, where did you hear that whole story about...ah, Aeola blowing up all of the merpeople and stabbing Triton?"

Hermus looked down. "I heard it from the other river spirits. they seemed really excited about it, too. What, were they not telling the truth?"

Aphrodisia laughed. "Not quite. I was actually there when they fought that day. I should probably tell you the real story so that no one here gets confused."

And so, the mermaid told the real story of what really happened. How Triton and Aeola had a rivalry, and Triton saw Aeola flying up in the air one day and decided to attack her, and how he tried to drown her, and Aeola defended herself by throwing down cherry bombs without causing any harm to anyone except the sea god, and how he tried to stab her with his trident until Aphrodisia stopped him and they left her alone. there was never an army of sharks sent after the wind spirit, and Aeola never stabbed or killed anyone during that fight.

"Well," Hermus said after knowing the true story. "Wait until I tell the river spirits what really happened. I can't wait to see their faces when I tell them!"

Antevorta scratched her head. "I didn't know that that was how it went. The other nymphs told be a completely different and totally bizarre version of that. The rumors just went totally crazy."

Aphrodisia nodded. "All of the deities are discussing it. Unfortunately, many of them heard it differently and they make Aeola seem like a bad person. She really isn't. She's a nice girl. That's why I didn't want Triton to hurt the poor thing."

"She is nice," Jack said. "The other Guardians told me about Aeola since they encountered her. She's pretty skittish, but harmless. I even got to talk to her."

"Really?" they all said.

"Uh, yup. Well, it was only once, and I haven't seen her since then. But she wasn't dangerous or anything."

"How did you meet her?" Hermus asked.

"She was passing by a town I was in and...we talked a little and threw a few snowballs, but then she left." Jack left out the part about pushing her into the pond.

"Huh. okay."

Antervorta chuckled. "Well, at least we know that she's not some crazy maniac, since that was how it sounded to me when I first heard about it."

"Well, I better go talk to the river spirits," said Hermus. "Make sure they know what really happened."

"And I gotta get back to my fountain."

"I should be going as well," Aphrodisia said.

Jack nodded. "Me too. I've got some...Guardian business to take care of." And by Guardian business, he meant filling up Bunnymund's warren with snow again.

All of them waved to each other goodbye (and Antevorta kissed her hand and blew on it in Jack's direction when he wasn't looking) and left to take care of their stuff. As Jack left, he thought about looking for Aeola to say hello, but decided not to. Even though he knew the real story of what happened between Aeola and Triton, he didn't want her to attack him. The rumors freaked him out a little, so Jack told himself that he'll go find her another day. Besides, he had to go fill a Warren with snow right now.

* * *

**This chapter is a bit rushed. Sorry. I just wanted to write the next chapter after this one really bad so I rushed it. Hehe.**

**The languages might not be accurate. Not everyone in Africa speak Afrikaans, but I decided to throw that in there for some diversity and stuff.**

**Yes, there is a goddess of yams. yes there is a god of kitchen stoves. Yes there is a goddess who is only two feet tall. Welcome to the world of mythology.**

**This chapter basically shows how rumors can be spread and get completely twisted, making it sound completely different that the original. The world is a crazy place. **

**Next chapter might take a while. I've got stuff to do so don't expect me to post up a new chapter this week (if I do that will be a miracle.) Review, follow, and favorite! Thank you for your support! It's the only thing that keeps me writing! I frickin' love you all! xoxo**

**-psychochirpingmistress**


	8. Chapter 8: First Believer

**Reply to reviews:**

**Savarra: I will! :)**

**Catdoggasaurous: Oh my gosh! Thank you so much! Thank you for dubbing me your favorite writer! It really means so much to me. Gives me a really warm fuzzy feeling inside that makes me feel so happy! :D And yay for Doctor Who! Oh, and um...ship? You talking about AoelaxJack? Alright, brace yourself, because I'm about to hit you with one big iceberg: AEOLA AND JACK WILL NOT BE A COUPLE. BAM. Sorry for sinking your ship, dearie. But they aren't going to be together. Their relationship will be more like brother and sister. Hehe. Sorry. But let me send your Titanic a rescue ship, which is my clever little metaphor that means I'm giving you "good news": Aeola WILL be paired up with someone. Hint: he is a certain rain god who was mentioned in chapter 6...;) Anyways, thank you for your review and for following and favoriting! **

**Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 8: First Believer**

It was very lively in Santoff Claussen for it was Christmas day. North had spent the entire night delivering presents to the children around the world and was now back at his workshop celebrating Christmas with the yetis and the elves. The other Guardians were also invited to the party and brought with them some special guests: the children of Burgess.

After a day of being with their families and getting their Christmas presents, the children were surprised by Jack, Tooth, Bunnymund, and Sandy, who told them that they got to spend the rest of Christmas night with the one and only Santa Claus. Sandy put their families to sleep so that they won't wonder where their child had gone off to, and they were brought to Santoff Claussen. This was their first time in the workshop, but there were a few things that did not live up to their expectations. For instance, they thought that North's workshop would be much smaller and simpler, like they saw in the Christmas movies and cartoons. They didn't know that yetis worked for North. And they certainly didn't think that the elves didn't make the toys. Despite this, Jamie, Sophie, Pippa, Monty, Cupcake, Caleb, and Claude absolutely loved being there.

It started off with a Christmas feast prepared by the yetis. Crown roast stood on a fancy plate with little paper skirts on the bones. Pineapple slices and cherries covered the honey-glazed ham that was placed next to the stuffed turkey. There was even roasted squash, along with roasted carrots and parsnips with thyme and a bowl full of mashed yams mixed with sweet gooey marshmallows. The Burgess children and the Guardians consumed everything, including the vegetables. And right when they felt like their bellies were about to burst open from all of the food, they were presented with a variety of wonderful desserts. Little cream puffs sat around a large chocolate cake that was decorated with small white chocolate sculptures of children ice-skating on a lake made of frosting. Every single type of cookie that they could imagine were still hot from baking in the oven. There were five plates stacked to the ceiling with bars of hand-made fudge and chocolate truffles. It took a team of four yetis to carry in a gingerbread mansion into the dining room. North pulled off the roof for the children to look inside and they were amazed at what they saw: gingerbread furniture, gingerbread Christmas decorations, and a gingerbread family. It even had a gingerbread cat and a tiny gingerbread house on the gingerbread kitchen counter. The children suddenly forgot how full they were and devoured the sweet treats.

After dinner, everyone went to a large room with a giant Christmas tree to open presents. The children jumped on the soft, plush couches and threw pillows at each other until North threatened them with coal instead of presents if they don't settle down. They obeyed his command and sat around the fireplace and everyone was given their gifts. Mini sand sculptures of dolphins and jellyfish and other sea creatures from Sandy. Hand-crafted Chanapatnna toys with gold, green, and blue feathered gear from India from Tooth. Colorful glass eggs scratched with intricate designs from Bunny. And toys that flew and flashed and buzzed and drove and whirred from North.

The Guardians thanked each other for the beautiful presents while the children played with their's. But after a while, they realized that a certain winter spirit hadn't given anything.

"Jack?" a frowning Bunny asked. "What did you get for us?"

Everyone turned to him. Jack bit his lip and rubbed the nape of his neck. The only reason why he didn't have any gifts to give was because anything he made would melt and he didn't want to steal any presents. He was hoping that everyone wouldn't notice. "Uh..."

Tooth put her hands on her hips. "Did you not get anything?"

"I knew he wouldn't bring anything!" exclaimed Bunny.

North put a hand on the pooka's shoulder. "Now, now. There is no need to be upset. It's okay if Jack didn't bring any presents-"

"But I DID bring presents!" Jack broke in, trying to think of something. "But it...it's not something that is physical!"

"What?" everyone asked, confused.

A million thoughts ran through Jack's head. "I...it's...uh, I have brought to you...the gift of...fun?"

Bunny flinched. "'Fun'?"

"Yup! I figured that...the gift of fun would be more meaningful...and stuff."

"So what exactly is it?" Caleb asked.

Jack blinked. "...It's...the...I am about to give you...the...best...game of...hide and seek tag ever! Right here in Santoff Claussen! And we're all gonna play!" He pointed at the Guardians. "That includes you guys!"

"What?" they said in unison.

The children widened their eyes. A game of hide and seek tag in a giant building with a lot of sneaky hiding spots was one of the most fun things they could imagine.

"You can't be serious, mate!" said Bunny.

"I am serious, mate!" Jack mimicked Bunny's Australian accent. "Rules: You can hide anywhere as long as it's inside. Once you are found, you have to be tagged. Once you're tagged you are deemed to be it and you get to help find everyone else and tag them, too. If you're found but you're able to shake off your pursuer, Then you're still allowed to hide. Tooth and Sandy, you guys are allowed to fly. But we can't use our powers to put anyone to sleep or freeze people or anything like that, okay?" Everyone nodded. "Good. The game starts...NOW!"

"One, two, three NOT IT!" Jamie yelled.

"NOT IT!" the other kids and Jack exclaimed.

Sandy, North, Tooth, and Bunny were confused at first at what they were doing, but quickly understood. "Not it!" North said.

"Not it!" shouted Tooth and Bunny.

Unfortunately the mute Sanderson was unable to say anything. He signed it with golden letters above his head, but Jack claimed that it didn't count. Sandy frowned and steam came out of his ears.

"Sorry, Sandy," North said, laughing. "We'll try to find a more fair way for doing that next time."

"How long should he count?" Monty asked.

Jack thought for a moment. "One-hundred and fifty seconds. You can't fast count. And when you're done counting..." He looked at an elf who was trying to steal a plate full of cookies. "Ring an elf so we know you're done."

Sandy nodded, still not happy that he was the one who was it.

Tooth spoke, "So, is the game starting now or-"

"ALRIGHT SANDY START COUNTING NOW!" Jack shouted quickly as he flew out of the room.

Sandy covered his eyes and the number 150 hovered above his head in golden sand and began to count down. Everyone stumbled out of the door and ran to find a spot. North, Bunny, and Sophie headed into one of the toy making rooms. Tooth, Caleb, and Claude went downstairs near the reindeer stables. Jack carried Jamie up to the globe room. Monty and Cupcake went into the kitchen. Pippa was alone and panicking. Wherever she hid she could be easily spotted and whatever good hiding place she found was already occupied. Eventually, she ran into North's office, thinking she could hide under his desk or something. But she stopped dead in her tracks when she found out that someone was already in there.

Aeola turned around and dropped the little ice car she was playing with. "Holy crap!" she exclaimed when she saw the little girl standing in front of the door. She shot up into the air to get out...but quickly realized that there was a solid surface above her and hit her head on the ceiling with a loud thud. Pippa watched the wind spirit fall to the ground moaning in pain and cursing.

"Oh my gosh!" Pippa said. "Are you alright? I'm so sorry for scaring you!"

"It's okay, kid," Aeola muttered, rubbing her head. "it's not so bad. I'm fine. Ugh. Don't sweat it."

Pippa sighed in relief, but immediately frowned. "Um, who are you?"

Aeola stood up. "Name's Aeola. Spirit of the wind, blah blah blah. Uh, I'm not supposed to be here. I was flying around the North Pole and I saw this place and I kinda came in through that window to look around." She mumbled to herself. "Turns out this is Santa Claus' place. I kinda expected it. What's your name?"

"...Pippa."

"Pippa? Huh. Nice name." Aeola glanced down at her, then did a double take. "Wait, are you a spirit?"

Pippa was staring at her. "Um, no."

"A god? A sprite?"

"No."

"Nymph? Immortal? Anything connected to being a mythical creature or something?"

Pippa shook her head. "Nuh-uh."

Aeola's eyes widened. She crouched down. "So...you're a kid? A normal little girl? A mortal?"

"Uh, sure?"

"And...you can...see me?"

"Of course."

"Are you serious? You can actually see me?"

"Yes. I can see you. Am I not supposed to see you?"

"Yeah! I mean, no! I don't know! Ha!" Aeola was smiling from ear to ear. She pumped her fist in the air and whooped and turned back around to a confused Pippa. "You can actually see me! I can't believe it! That's so awesome!" Suddenly Aeola frowned at her. "Wait, hold up. What's a kid like you doing in Santa Claus' factory?"

Pippa snapped out of her confusion. "Oh, the Guardians brought me and my friends here to celebrate Christmas."

"The what?"

"The Guardians. You know, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, Jack Frost. Are you really a spirit?"

"Yeah," Aeola replied, smiling again. "Wait, really? The Tooth Fairy and Jack Frost and all that? You've gotta be kidding me. Are they here?"

Pippa nodded. "Yup. In fact, we're playing a game of hide and seek tag right now, and Sandy is-"

There was a ringing sound coming from the other room. Sandy was done counting and was now on the hunt. Pippa covered her face with her hands.

"Oh no!" she whispered. "Sandy's coming! He's the one who's it and I'm not even in a hiding spot!"

The ten-year old frantically ran around the room, stuffing herself into small places and being squeezed out of them when she couldn't fit. Aeola crossed her arms and smirked.

"Hey, Pippa," she said. "If you want, I can help you hide."

Pippa's head popped out from between a desk and the fireplace. "Really?"

"Yeah, really. I am the master of hide and seek after all. This is a piece of cake."

"Thanks!" Pippa went up to the wind spirit. "But there isn't anywhere to hide in here."

Aeola went up to the door and opened it ever so slightly. Through it she recognized the Sandman, who was looking through some open boxes. She turned to Pippa.

"He's right outside. We can't get out through there."

Pippa looked gutted. "What're we gonna do?"

Aeola crossed her arms and thought for a moment. She looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"I've got an idea," she whispered. "But you have to stay absolutely quiet, okay?"

Pippa frowned. "Uh, sure, but-"

Before she could protest Aeola picked up Pippa and flew up to a corner near the door.

* * *

Sandy turned around. He thought he had heard someone yelp in the workshop (which was Pippa when Aeola had suddenly grabbed her). Quietly, Sandy went up to the door and put his ear against the door and waited.

After a while, he heard two girls talking. "Is he still there?" He recognized Pippa's voice.

"I don't know," said some other girl. Sandy frowned. The voice was familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was. "He probably skipped this room, but let's stay here. It's best not to risk going outside yet."

Sandy burst into the workshop. No one was there. He walked over to a desk where there was a small town that was carved out of ice by North and looked under it. He jumped up and whirled around when the door suddenly shut behind him, but no one was there. There was only a warm breeze. At first he was confused, but he shook it off and continued to look around the room.

* * *

After about half an hour, Sandy was able to find and tag almost everyone. Jack and Jamie were hidden behind a flag on a shelf in the globe room. Tooth was hiding behind a curtain. North had jumped into a giant container filled with stuffing. Monty and Cupcake were in the top cupboards in the kitchen. Bunny and Sophie hid in a large pile of boxes. Caleb was lying down behind a water trough for the reindeer, and Claude was found under the sleigh. Now the only thing left to do was to work together to track down the last person: Pippa.

Everyone split off into teams to look for the girl. But after twenty minutes, they had searched the entire building and were unable to find Pippa. They began to worry. They all gathered up near the globe room.

Tooth began to pace back and forth nervously. "This is bad. This is really really bad. What if she's stuck? Or lost, or-"

"Do not worry, Tooth," North said. "I am sure that we will find her. I know this place like back of my hand! She cannot hide forever."

"It's weird, though," Caleb said. "I mean, Pippa isn't even good at this game. She's really bad at hiding and we always find her first whenever we play."

"Hey! I'm good at hiding!" someone exclaimed. "...Oops."

All of them looked up to the source of the voice and gasped. Pippa had somehow gotten herself to get up on one of the wooden beams high up in the ceiling. She smiled and waved.

"There you are!" Jamie exclaimed. "We've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Didn't anyone look up there earlier?" Bunny asked.

Tooth, Sandy, and Jack all nodded. "I swear, there was no one there when I looked," Tooth said. "And I only checked up there a few minutes ago."

Pippa had a smug look on her face. "Well, you found me." She looked down below her for a moment and smirked at the Guardians and her friends. "Now you have to catch me!"

What she did next was completely unexpected. Pippa shut her eyes, let go of the beam and allowed herself to fall off and down to the ground far below. Everyone screamed. Tooth bolted herself to the child to catch her but she fell out of her grasp. The Guardians jumped down to the first floor, but Pippa was no where to be seen. North looked horrified.

"Did she...?" he said quietly. "Where...?"

"Aren't you guys gonna catch me?" they heard Pippa say. They turned around and were relieved to see her standing near the old elevator safe and sound. But they were also slightly curious as to how she was able to jump down almost ten stories and hit the ground unharmed.

Bunny walked towards her. "Thank goodness you're alright-"

But as he got within ten feet of her, Pippa jumped back into the shadows. When Bunny came to investigate, he found that Pippa was no longer there.

"Hey!" the girl shouted. They all looked above them and saw that Pippa was a story above them. She leaned over the railing. "So, are you guys just going to stand there, or are you gonna try and tag me?"

The Guardians were shocked. How did she get up there so fast? All of them climbed upstairs, but found out that she was already three floors above them.

"How are you doing that?" North asked, amazed.

Pippa stuck her tongue out in reply. "You can't catch me!"

"Oh yeah?" Jack said. He jumped off the railing to fly up to her...but instead, ended up falling and hitting the ground hard.

"OWWWWW," he moaned.

"Jack!" Tooth exclaimed, flying down to him. "Are you alright?"

Jack sat up. "I'm fine, it's fine."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. The wind wouldn't carry me. It's like it's just gone."

Tooth frowned. Why would the wind just disappear all of a sudden? "Well, maybe it'll come back soon? Anyways, do you need me to fly you upstairs? We still need to catch Pippa."

Jack stood up, cracking his back. "Nah, I've got it. I'll just walk it the old-fashioned way."

"Jack, that's a lot of stairs."

"I can take it."

"Are you sure?"

"Watch me."

The winter spirit sprinted up the stairs and looked down at Tooth. "See? Stairs won't stop me!"

As he continued running upstairs, Tooth looked over to her right and noticed something.

"Um, Jack? You do know you could have taken the elevator."

"I've got it!" Jack shouted from three stories above. "I don't need an elevator!"

Tooth shrugged. "Alright then." And she flew up to help the others catch Pippa.

But it was impossible. Whenever they saw the ten-year old, she had disappeared into the shadows and ended up somewhere else that was far away from her original position. There was a moment when Jamie, Sandy, and Monty had cornered her and thought that they had her, but then she suddenly shot up into the air and was gone. When they told everyone else about this, no one had an answer as to how she was able to pull this off.

A little later, Jack was chasing Pippa down but he collapsed from exhaustion when he almost tagged her. Once again she disappeared. Pippa ended up on the eighth floor and ran into one of the rooms. Aeola was in there laughing.

"Did they get you?" she asked.

Pippa shook her head. She had a huge smile on her face. "Nope! You should have seen their faces! They got so confused when you shot me up into the air! Jamie was like-" she made a face "-and Sandy was like 'whaaaaaat?' and Monty freaked out and he fell on the floor!"

"What was Jack like when I took away the wind?"

"You can do that?"

Aeola pointed to herself. "Spirit of the wind. Duh."

Pippa laughed. "Oh my gosh. When he fell, he got so confused and he had to take the stairs to chase me down. And earlier he fell down because he was so tired!"

Aeola snorted. "Ha! That's teach him for pushing me into the water. Maybe next...time...Pippa, what is it?"

She didn't say anything. Pippa was staring behind the wind spirit. Aeola turned around and saw a very angry standing at the door.

"Hi, Phil," Pippa said.

* * *

**Some bits were rushed. Sorry about that. That's what I get for writing this chapter at 2 am in the morning.**

**Review, favorite, and follow! Next chapter will be up soon, maybe! xoxo**

**-psychochirpingmistress**


	9. Chapter 9: Santa Claus

**Reply to reviews:**

**Merlin'sPen: Why, thank you!**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Santa Claus**

The children of Burgess and the Guardians were all gathered in the room where they opened their presents when Pippa came in and was followed by Phil and another yeti who was holding a very pissed off wind spirit by the ankles. After Pippa was tackled to the ground by Jamie (he was trying to tag her), she and Aeola explained to everyone what happened.

Aeola was wondering around Canada when a thought came to her: if the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy and Sandman and Jack Frost and all these other spirts and gods were real, then was Santa Claus real as well? So she flew to the North Pole to answer her questions and wasn't disappointed when she saw a giant building built on the side of a snowy mountain. She flew around for a bit checking out the exterior of the workshop until Aeola spotted an open window. She suspected that the place was under servaillence, so she flew in their as fast as she could so that she wouldn't be detected. What she found was a room filled with toys and such made of ice. Her curiousity made her stay and she played with some of the toys until Pippa came in.

It took a while for them to explain everything else. Aeola told them that she used her powers over the wind to take Pippa from one place to another. Sandy asked in signs how she did it so fast. The wind spirit only laughed, replying, "I am the fastest flyer in the whole world. I wasn't even making Pippa fly that fast. I'm surprised none of you saw her."

Once everyone knew the whole story, North ordered a protesting Phil to let Aeola go and even offered to give her some food (to which she politely declined) and let her stay for the remainder of the party. He figured that she had not communicated much with anyone for the past several months and must've felt lonely (and she did). Besides, she meant no harm. Aeola only wanted to see Santa Claus and his magial toy factory, so why not let her?

Aeola was a little antisocial. It wasn't because she hadn't spent a lot time with anyone ever since she became a spirit. Even before she became Aeola, being with people was something of an ordeal. If there was ever a chance to not be around people, she always took it. When someone (even her parents) wanted to talk with Aeola, she would find a way to avoid them. Her old friends would want to hang out with her but instead she would sometimes stay at home cooped up in her dark room on the computer. Going to parties? No. Speaking in front of the class for an oral report on penguins? Aeola would pretend to be sick. Ordering grilled salmon from a menu at a restaraunt? Haha! Nope! She was not a people person.

Except around children. They were so much easier to talk to than people Aeola's age and adults. If she stuttered or messed up on a sentence, they wouldn't care. They wouldn't make fun of her for not having a lot of friends or being clumsy or upset. It was why she got along with AJ and Augustus so well. And it was also why she was able to speak to Pippa and Jamie and all their friends without being nervous. Aeola had small talk with the Guardians but it was clear to them that she didn't enjoy talking to them that much, so they let her entertain the kids.

"Um, so," Monty said. He was scared to talk to Aeola since he had one teeny, weeny, itsy, bitsy crush on her. "So...can you really make other people...like, fly?"

Aeola nodded. "Yup." She was on the floor while four-year old Sophie Bennett attempted to braid her hair. All the other children sat around her in a circle. "It's not so hard. I tell the wind to do it, and it does it." A memory came into her head. "In fact, remember back in April after Easter? All of you were having a snowball fight with Jack Frost over there-"

"Did someone happen to say my name?" Jack broke in as he jumped onto the couch behind them.

"No." Aeola frowned. "I mean, yes. Whatever. I was trying to tell something here, Frost. Anyways, you were all having a snowball fight with Jack until you guys just started to fly around?"

All of the children widened their eyes. "Was that you? You did that?" they asked.

In reply, Aeola pursed her lips and lifted up her hands. Behind them they heard Bunnymund and North yelp out in surprise. Jack and the Burgess children turned around and were surprised to see the two Guardians being lifted up into the air. They were kicking and flailing their arms around like madmen and trying to grab onto anything to pull themselves down.

"Chto proiskhodit? ("What is going on?!")" North yelled in Russian.

Bunny was even more frantic than North. "AUGH...HELP! TOOTH! HELP! STOP LAUGHING! I DON'T LIKE THIS! BLOODY HELL, STOP LAUGHING! HELP!"

Everyone was cracking up, including Sanderson, who was rolling around on the ground in his silent laughter. Aeola figured that North and Bunny had enough and gently dropped them back on the ground. The traumatized pooka stumbled around for a bit before he hopped onto a nearby couch and clung onto the armrest like his life depended on it. He opened his mouth like he was going to yell at Aeola, but then his expression turned a little scared. Bunny's ears fell down and and he looked down.

"Can you..." He cleared his throat. "Don't do that to me next time, a-alright?"

Jack snorted. "Gee, Bunny. I mean, I knew you were afraid of flying but I didn't know you're that afraid."

"I'm not bloody scared of flying! I...just don't like not standing on the ground."

"Otherwise known as 'scared of flying.'"

"Shut yer trap, Frostbite!"

Aeola chuckled lightly. "Uh, do you guys always fight like this or what? I mean, you sound like my brothers when they get into it."

Jack shrugged. "Well, not always. But it's a regular thing. Every time we meet up we can't leave without having at least one argument. If we don't then the world will fall out of balance. So it's kinda our duty."

"Basically," Bunny agreed.

Jamie lied down on his stomach and rested his head on his fists. He looked up to Aeola and asked, "You have a family?"

Aeola hesitated before smiling and replying, "Had a family."

"How many siblings did you have?"

"Four. Kyle is nineteen now. He's a jerkface. I have two little five year-old twin brothers. Wait, nevermind. They're actually six now. Their birthday was last month. Their names are AJ and Augustus. And my mom just had a baby girl in October." Aeola sighed. "They named her Charity."

"Do you have any pets?" Cupcake asked.

"Yeah. we've got a cat named Cutiepie. She's only one years-old."

"Why's your hair blue?" Sophie asked from behind Aeola.

"Uh, because I dyed it?"

"Did you ever get into any fights with your brothers?" asked Caleb after he got a shove from Claude.

"...Not really," Aeola lied.

"Really?"

"I mean, sometimes. But...it wasn't so bad."

Claude threw a pillow at Caleb. "Did you ever hit them or punched them?"

"I...no."

"Come on, not even once?"

"There was this one time..."

"Yeah?" All the children stared at Aeola. She fiddled with her fingers nervously.

"Well...I punched his face in because he stole my dolls and threatened to use the blow dryer to melt their faces."

"My older sister did that to one of my My Little Pony toys," Cupcake said.

Pippa leaned forward. "Do you have a Wii-U?"

"Um, I don't think so," Aeola answered.

"I'm gonna get a Wii-U from my grandpa for my birthday in February!" Monty blurted out.

"Did you ever fight with your parents a lot?"

Aeola bit her lip. "I-"

"What kind of cat was your cat?"

"She's a-"

"Can you make tornadoes?"

"What other gods and spirits and stuff are out there?"

"Can you, like, use your powers to shoot someone all the way into space or-"

"DONE!"

"Thank gods!" Aeola said, relieved that she now had an excuse to not answer everyone's questions. She turned around to see Sophie with a huge grin on her face. "You done with the braid now?"

Sophie nodded. "Yeah! Do you like it?"

"I can't see it. How about we look for a mirror so I can check it out, alright?"

"Wait," Jamie said. "I still have another question-"

"OH look!" Aeola chirped a little too excitedly. "That window has a good reflection."

Before any of the children could say anything else Aeola quickly picked up Sophie and flew over to the giant window on the other side of the room. Jamie frowned.

"Darn it. I was gonna ask her if she's ever seen Bigfoot."

"Jamie, there's no such thing," Pippa groaned.

"He has to exist! If Jack's real, and so is North and Tooth and Sandy and Bunny and Aeola and all the other spirits and stuff, then Bigfoot's real, too!" Jamie turned to Jack and Bunny. "Have you guys seen him?"

The pooka and the winter spirit looked at each other. "I've never seen him, mate," Bunny admitted.

"The guy's hard to track," said Jack. "Only a few of the spirits and gods have seen him."

"But he exists?" Jamie said as he stood up.

Jack nodded. "Well, I don't think he's called 'Bigfoot.' But yeah. There's a creature like him that's out there."

Jamie threw his fist in the air. "Alright! See? I told you guys!"

"We won't believe it until we see it," Claude said. He looked to the side. "Hey, what's that?"

The children all looked to the white metal bow leaning on the side of the couch. Pippa's eyes widened.

"That's a bow! I've seen something like that before. I think my dad had one of these!"

Cupcake picked up the bow. Everyone else gathered around her and admired it's color and it's shape.

"I've never seen a bow that looks like this before!" Cupcake said.

"It almost looks like Hawkeye's bow except it's white!" Pippa said.

"Can it fold up like his?" asked Monty.

For a few minutes Cupcake and Jamie attempted to try to fold the bow with no success. Jack tried to take it away from them for he was afraid that they might break it, but they refused to give it up. They argued about it for a bit and the arguing turned into Jack and the Burgess children playing tug-o-war with it. They didn't notice that Aeola had come back.

"What in the world are you people doing with my bow?"

They froze. Aeola's arms were crossed and her lips were pursed. Her hair was a rat's nest because Sophie had tried to fix the braid. She raised an eyebrow, waiting for an answer.

Monty sighed. "We wanted to see if it would fold up. Like Hawkeye's."

"Well, let me tell you now before you break it: it doesn't." She knelt down. "Besides, a collapsible bow would be ridiculous. It would have to be built with special springs at the hinges so the strength of the bow can come from the springs and also the shaft of the bow. But the strength needed would pretty much make it impossible to fold. I mean, I'd have to make another weird pulley system so it can collapse and also spring into action like Hawkeye's bow."

"In English?" Jack asked.

"Basically it would be really, really hard to make. That easy enough for you to understand?"

"Sorry, I don't know the ways of the bow as much as you do."

Meanwhile, Pippa had taken hold of the bow and was trying to pull back the string with no success.

"Urgh," she grunted. "Why is it so hard to pull?"

Aeola took the bow from her. "First of all, it's because you're inexperienced with this kind of weapon. Second of all, it's not built for someone your size. And lastly, you're not doing it right, kiddo." She held up the weapon. "You hold the grip in your left hand, not your right. It's always like that. And you pull back the string with your right."

"What's that thing on your hand?" Jack asked.

"It's called a release. I use it to hook onto the string and draw it back so it's easier. It also helps with my accuracy."

"How come there's so many strings on it?"

"One of the cables is for me to nock the arrow on. The other two strings use a pulley system to help pull back the bow and give it more power and weight. It's really complicated."

"Do you need the release?"

"No. I don't have to use it. But it helps."

"Can I see it?"

Aeola frowned. "Um...sure."

The bow was now in Jack's icy grip. Like Pippa he failed at drawing back the cable. He eventually gave up and stretched out his arms.

"Jeez," he said. "How strong do you have to be to pull that thing?"

Aeola smiled as she took her bow back. "A little strong. But the only hing you really need is practice."

"Can you please show us how you shoot?" the children begged.

"Um, I don't know. Maybe." She shrugged. "I can't do it in here..."

"Let's do it outside!" Pippa suggested. "Please?"

Jamie raised his hand like he was asking a question in a classroom. "Ooh! And Jack can, like, throw snowballs or something for you to shoot at!"

"It's kinda dark outside," Aeola said. "It'd be hard to see them."

Sandy, who had been listening in on the conversation, waved his arms around and a bunch of signs appeared on his head.

Aeola looked bewildered. "What?"

"Something...something...birds?" said Jack. He has been with Sandy for almost two years and he was still trying to learn how to interpret his form of language.

North stepped forward. "He says he will make birds with the dreamsand for you to shoot. They shine bright so it will not be hard for you to see them in air."

"Yeah!" All the children crowded around Aeola, begging her to accept the offer.

After thinking about it for a moment, she shrugged and said, "Okay then. Let's head out."

They all cheered.

* * *

North had guided everyone to the roof of the workshop. A few yetis and several elves came as well to see the action. The half moon provided a little light for them so it wasn't so dark. As they waited for Tooth and Bunny to come up, Aeola was flying around and looking up at the night sky. She had lived in a suburban area for a majority of her life. There were only ever a few stars that were visible in the night. So for the past several months Aeola would find a place that was away from a city and spend some time looking at up at the stars that decorated the night sky. Beauty was something that she cherished so she would always go through the extra effort to look for it and appreciate it.

"Alright!" announced North when everyone was finally gathered. "We are all here. Aeola, you may start now."

"Okay." Aeola looked at the giant mountain in front of the workshop and shouted, "EVERYONE WHO IS CURRENTLY IN MY FIELD OF VISION NEEDS TO BACK OFF OR ELSE THEY WILL END UP WITH AN ARROW STICKING OUT OF THEIR BUTT. I'M TALKING TO YOU, JACK."

Jack put his hands up in surrender. "Relax, princess. I'm getting out of your way."

"Did...did you just call me 'princess'?"

"Anything wrong with that?"

"Not really. Except it makes me sound like I'm prissy and uptight."

Jack smirked. "I'm not saying you are prissy and uptight. But the name suits you." He looked down. "Right guys? It suits her."

The children and even the Guardians nodded in agreement.

"You certainly looks like one," said Tooth. "With the fair skin, face shape, eyes, and nice, beautiful teeth, you really have the qualities of a princess."

Aeola turned beet red. "Um...uh, th-thanks?" she managed to stutter out. "But I'm really not that pretty. Really. But thank you." Compliments. She was terrible at giving them and even worse at receiving them.

Tooth was confused by Aeola's reply but shook it off. "Well, your welcome."

Sandy waved at Aeola, signaling that he was ready. She nodded and landed on the edge of the roof. She took out a metal arrow from her sheath and nocked it on the cable. The release was clipped onto the loop and she pulled back the cable, pointing it towards the mountain. Everyone held their breaths. Everything was quiet except for the soft breeze blowing and the snow hitting the building.

Just then Sandy released a little golden bird into the air. It wasn't flying very fast. Aeola released the arrow and it sailed right through the bird. The little creature let out a chirp and scattered into dream sand. Everyone let out ooh's and ah's but the wind spirit was not pleased.

"Sorry," she said a little shyly. "But, um, can you make them go faster? Like, give me a challenge?"

The Sandman nodded. This time he let out two birds that, to Aeola's satisfaction, went much quicker. Aeola was still able to take them down.

As time progressed Sandy tried to make it difficult for Aeola to shoot the birds. Mockingbirds and sparrows and crows perished under her arrows. Sandy let out two, four, eight, and sometimes ten birds at once to see if she would get them all and she did. There was this one time when Sandy released a golden hawk. Aeola shot another arrow but the bird suddenly turned direction and flew upwards, dodging the deadly projectile. Sandy smiled to himself, proud that he was able to fool the wind spirit. But Aeola had other tricks up her sleeve. She twisted her hand and then a jet of cold air directed the arrow back and right through the hawk and then lodged itself on the ground next to Aeola's feet. Everyone, especially Sanderson, was dumbfounded.

"What?" she said, smiling. "Did all of you forget that I can do that? I mean, I am the master of the gales."

A few ducks and another hawk were released and shot before Aeola decided to stop. Her arm was hurting and she felt exhausted since she had not slept in days. Everyone crowded around her, praising her wonderful archery skills.

"That was so cool!"

"That was amazing!"

"You have to show me how to do that!"

"Nice job!"

Sandy gave a thumbs up.

"Can you teach me sometime how to shoot with a bow?"

"That was good shooting!"

"Good job, princess. That was impressive."

"Can I shoot with the bow now?"

Aeola laughed. "Sorry, Little Dudes. This bow was not built for tiny children. And anyways, I should be leaving now. I'm pretty tired and I need to crash somewhere."

"Awwwwww," the Burgess children whined.

North stepped forward. "If you want, you can rest here! In workshop! I have plenty of rooms. Even Jack is staying here for night."

Aeola smiled shyly. "Oh, thank you...uh, North, right? But that's okay. I...I already have a place to sleep back in the U.S."

"Do you?" asked North. He knew she was lying but he didn't want to push her. "Well, alright then."

The Guardians bid Aeola goodbye with hand shaking and back patting and friendly name-calling (from Jack). The children begged her not to leave but eventually let her be when she promised them that she would visit them in Burgess soon. Before Aeola could officially take off, Pippa ran up to the wind spirit and hugged her.

"Come visit me at Burgess soon, okay?" Pippa said.

Aeola was stunned. No one has touched her in nine months and she wasn't used to it. Jack chuckled. He knew how she felt. He thought of the time when Jamie hugged him after defeating Pitch. Aeola recovered from her shock and returned the hug.

"I will," Aeola said. "I'll be there."

She patted the back of Pippa's head before flying off.

"Bye, guys!" she shouted. "It was nice meeting all of you!"

"Goodbye, Aeola!"

Sandy waved.

"Don't forget to floss!"

"Merry Christmas!"

"See you later, princess!"

Aeola said goodbye again before disappearing behind the mountain.

* * *

**HEY!**

**So...did you see the thing I did there at the end? Huh? Did you? Hmmmm? :3**

**Sorry if I keep on mentioning the Avengers a lot. Actually I'm not sorry. The Avengers is amazing. **

**I had to do a lot of research on bows and how they work. They're pretty amazing. And cool. I've always wanted to shoot an arrow with one BUT IT'S SO HARD TO PULL BACK THE STRING LIKE SERIOUSLY YOU NEED HULK ARMS TO PULL THOSE THINGS BACK.**

**So after this, most of the chapters will be a little drabbly. It's really just going to be Aeola running around doing random stuff and making friends with Jack and other spirits and gods and a certain little nightmare king. *wink wink* So I'd really appreciate some suggestions! Because when I first came up with the idea for this fanfic, I just kinda started writing and figured that I'd expand as I go along. I already have a basic plot, but I would love some suggestions. :)**

**Also, I may not be updating as much for the next few months. hehe. Sorry. School's coming up and I've got so much crap to do. BUT i WILL NOT FORGET ABOUT THIS FIC!**

**Review, favorite, follow, and give me suggestions! I love you all! xoxoxo**

**-psychochirpingmistress**


	10. Chapter 10: Till We Grow Older

**Reply to reviews:**

**Merlin'sPen: here are your answers to your questions:**

**Q: how does Aeola change?**

**-that is something that you will find out later in the story... ;)**

**Q: Do her brothers ever see her?**

**-maybe her brothers, maybe her whole family, maybe they'll never see her ever. You'll see...**

**Q: Could she and Jack have a bonding/hurt/comfort moment? (you need to friend zone him, or people including me will ship them anyway)**

**-yes that is a good idea...hmmm...oh, and ****OK**

**DUDE**

**SO ORIGINALLY I WASN'T GOING TO MAKE AEOLA AND JACK A COUPLE.**

**BUT THEN YOU AND ONE OTHER PERSON SAID SOMETHING ABOUT THEM BEING TOGETHER AND FOR THE PAST WEEK I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THEM TOGETHER AND NOW YOU PEOPLE MADE ME SHIP THEM AND I CAN'T UNSHIP THEM NOW**

**SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH I GUESS THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE TO BE TOGETHER NOW WOW **

**but just so you know, this story will not revolve around their relationship. Personally I think stories that revolve around a boy/girl meeting another boy/girl that changes their life forever or something is quite...eh. But there will be stuff about them. I promise. :)**

**Q: What is the climax of your story?**

**-heuheuheuheuheueue**

**Q: will Pitch come back?**

**-he will be in a chapter coming up soon! it's not the next chapter but it's in a future chapter.**

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**WARNING: watch out there's a bit of cursing oh no everyone hide**

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**Chapter 10: Till We Grow Older**

Aeola couldn't stop thinking about her visit with the Guardians and her first believers for days. First of all, she was quite surprised that all of the little fairy tale characters she used to look up to when she was young were part of a little group called the Guardians. They had explained to her during the Christmas party what they do, how they protect the children of the world and all that jazz. It was very unexpected, but Aeola didn't mind. She thought it was amazing.

Second of all, she couldn't believe that a group of normal humans could finally see her. Aeola had figured that she was something like a ghost and no one could see or hear her no matter what. But now that Pippa and her friends believe in her, she knew that theory was untrue. This gave Aeola some hope. She knew that if those human children were able to see her, then maybe her family will be able to see her some day, too...

And lastly, the main reason why Aeola was so giddy about her visit: friends. She actually made some friends. Or at least, some acquaintances. She wasn't so sure about that. Pippa and her friends weren't considered as "friend" friends since they were children and she always befriends children. With the Guardians Aeola didn't know where their relationship was at. She didn't really talk with North, Tooth, and Sandy too much but they got along (Tooth had called her pretty, but again, Aeola was wary of compliments like that. She had probably called her that just to be nice). Bunny was okay. Jack was fine, too. But she wasn't so sure if she and him were friends. But it didn't matter. Friends, acquaintances, whatever. Both were good enough for her.

* * *

"Thursday, January 2, 2014."

That was what the date on a newspaper on a newspaper stand read. Aeola was hanging around Santa Monica in California to brood for a while and then relax (far enough away from the ocean so that Triton can't track her and try to kill her again). She spent all afternoon flying around, messing with the people a bit, and being mean to the seagulls by making the wind blow against the direction that they're flying at. At around eight Aeola sat down at some empty benches and thought about stuff.

Aeola thought about the Guardians, of course. They were incredibly strange, but were also a very interesting and unique group of extraordinary people/creatures. She thought about Pippa and all the other children she met. Her first believers adored her. Pippa really liked Aeola it seemed, and it made the wind spirit smile to herself. She thought about Mother Nature and why she had dubbed Aeola as the wind spirit. She had said something about courage and finding it. What did Nature mean? "Find courage"? How does one find courage? By not being scared? By putting oneself in danger despite the fact that they may get hurt? Thinking about it gave Aeola a bit of a headache so she stopped. She thought about life, and then thought about death. Finally, she thought about her family.

How were they doing now? Were they still mourning over their precious daughter and sister? Or have they moved on and forgotten about Aeola? How did her parent's feel about it? What about Kyle? Did he miss her or does he not care like he usually does about everything? Do AJ and Augustus put themselves to sleep every night thinking about her? Will her parents ever tell her new baby sister why one room in the house is empty and cold?

Thinking about this made Aeola homesick. She had not been to her house ever since her mother brought Charity home from the hospital in the beginning of October. She didn't know why she dreaded going back there ever since. Perhaps it was because she didn't want to see her new sister basically fill in the gaping hole that formed in her family's hearts when Aeola passed away. Or maybe it was because she didn't want to look at Charity, who looks exactly how Aeola looked when she was a baby, and be reminded of herself. She didn't know.

After a while, Aeola made up her mind. She was going back home.

* * *

Aeola sneaked in through a window that was left open in her parents' bedroom. It was past eight. No one was home. Of course. Her whole family was currently staying at a cabin in Big Bear for winter break like they do every year. She had forgotten about that. At least it gave her a chance to look around her house without running into any fights and stuff like that.

After turning on the lights Aeola was surprised at what she saw. Her parents' bedroom was rather messy. The bed was half made and some clothes were thrown on the floor. A bottle of shampoo was spilled in the shower. Aeola almost stepped on her father's razor that was lying on the tiles. The closet lights were left on and it smelled of her mother's cheap perfume that didn't smell anything like a field of wildflowers. It seemed like they overslept and rushed to prepare to leave for Big Bear. Just like last year.

Aeola walked out the room and opened the door to AJ and Augustus' room. The beds were made, the toys were picked up, and their clothes were sort of neatly hung up in the closet. She smiled. They woke up early, excited for their trip, and made sure everything was clean and spotless so that Mom and Dad could see how ready they were. Those two are always out to please.

Next was Kyle's room. His bed was stripped of it's covers. The shelves that held his medals, trophies, and pictures were bare. Even his TV for playing Xbox and Gamecube and his computer were gone. Kyle had packed his things and ran off to college, where he was majoring in psychology. Aeola was jealous. He had everything planned out and his future looked so good. He didn't need to worry about anything because people scurried over and offered to do everything for him. Kyle had friends, supporting parents, and was smarter than Aeola. She hungered for that.

Down the hall in front of Kyle's room was Charity's new room. It was painted a soft yellow. A diaper-changing station sat next to the tiny crib. Some baby clothes that still had the price tag on them were piled on the dresser. The smell of baby powder gave Aeola nostalgia and pleasant memories of her childhood. Rolling around her room playing with her toys and hiding under her blankets pretending to be in a cave hiding from the Boogeyman. Those were good times. But then Aeola looked up and saw Charity's name on the wall in silver letters above her crib and she felt a terrible pang of sadness for some reason.

Finally, next to Charity's room was Aeola's old room. Aeola took a deep breath before opening the door. She expected it to be completely empty and bare, so she was shocked to see that everything was still in place.

Everything had been cleaned. The bed was made and all of her clothes were put into the dresser. Aeola's posters were untouched. Some of them were movie posters promoting movies like Beautiful Creatures, Warm Bodies, Les Miserables, House at the End of the Street, Silver Linings Playbook, and Oz the Great and Powerful. Her ex-boyfriend worked at the theater and was able to get some of them for her as a gift. Aeola hasn't seen some of these movies but she just thought that the posters looked nice. The other posters were for video games and bands and shows and celebrities she liked.

Pictures of random things like a flower petal, a tile floor, and a pair of sunglasses were pinned on her wall. Aeola likes to take a lot of pictures which gave Kyle an excuse to make fun of her for being a "crazy hipster". So she ran around the mall taking pictures of strange things and printed them out to hang on her wall and also in Kyle's room. She wasn't exactly sure what she was trying to prove but it made Kyle shut up.

Aeola looked the bench/dresser thing that was built into the wall. If someone were to take off the cushions and open the top they would find a large compartment that was meant for storing clothes or toys. Except Aeola never used it for that. Most of the time she used it to lie down in and listen to music on her iTouch in the darkness. She turned on the computer that was sitting on top of her desk, typed in her password, and waited for it to get warmed up. Her desktop had an image of a '67 Chevy Impala and a blue police box with a man in a bow tie and a fez standing next to it. After a while Aeola clicked on Chrome and opened up the tabs that she usually went on: Youtube, Tumblr, and Facebook.

On Youtube Aeola checked up on her Youtubers to see how they were doing. Then she went on Tumblr and saw that she had one message from one of her followers:

**itskounotgoubitches asked**: "heyyyy where'd ya go? u havent reblogged anything in like forever and im wondering if ur ok or something idk man. like my dash is so boring and empty now that ur gone n shit. REPLY BACK SO I KNOW YOU HAVENT DIED OR SOMETHING DONT DO THIS TO ME MAN"

Oh, the irony. Aeola thought about replying back but quickly decided not to. itskounotgoubitches reblogged everything from her. They used to message each other sometimes and became pretty good internet friends. Aeola felt sad that she didn't know that she was really dead. She pondered for a bit before scrolling through her dash and being careful not to like or reblog anything. An hour passed before Aeola finally killed the tag for Tumblr and checked on her Facebook.

"Holy shit!" she said. Aeola (or Kelly Anne Stratford, that is) had eighty-one notifications. Some of her two-hundred and sixteen friends (who were only people from school) had left condolences on her Facebook wall. Aeola braced herself before going to her wall and reading what was posted:

**Abigail Kocen**: "I can't believe what happened. Kelly, you were such a good friend and I am so sad to know that you are now gone. I'll really miss you."

Abby Kocen? Kelly sat next to her in her geometry class. The only time they spoke to each other was when Abby wanted to know the answers to the homework one morning.

**Sarah Atkinson**: "Wow ok I don't know how to respond to this. I mean I'm not going to go on about how wonderful and amazing of a friend you were because in all honesty, we weren't that close. We talked and hung out a few times. But I knew that we weren't really friends. But this...how could this happen? It was so sudden and unexpected and I still can't believe it. I hope you're doing alright up there now."

Aeola remembered Sarah. She was okay and was pretty nice. At least she wasn't pretending that she knew her.

**Ethan Gonzalez**: "This was a true tragedy. The universe can be so cruel sometimes. We'll miss you."

Aeola frowned. _Yeah_, she thought. _You'll miss stealing my damn pencils, you son of a bitch._

**Ryan Ba**: "You were such a great person and an even greater friend! Miss you!"

Who the fuck was Ryan Ba?

**Jesse Rose Catro**: "I am deeply saddened by your loss, Kelly. You were a good teammate and an amazing and beautiful person. I'll always miss your personality and kindness. You always made practice fun. The track team has lost a great athlete, but I lost an even greater friend. I love you and I miss you. God bless you 33"

At this point Aeola was about to flip the desk. Jesse was on the long jump team with Aeola. She was judgmental and prissy and a total snob. What did Jesse know about her personality? And what was this "friends" business? Jesse hated Kelly ever since freshman year, always giving her dirty looks whenever Kelly would run faster or jump farther than her. In fact Jesse had gotten all the girls on the long jump team except one to gang up on her. They pushed her around and always called her "the retarded goth" whenever the coach wasn't around. No matter what Kelly wore they would always give her that look, the one when people check out someone's clothes and sneer a bit. Sometimes they got so nasty and cruel that they would start making comments about her body.

Aeola was skinny but it wasn't something that she could control. She could eat as much as she want and she wouldn't gain any weight. Her doctor even tried putting her on a special diet so that she could gain some weight, but it didn't affect anything. She wanted to get bigger but her body was just very stubborn. Aeola hated it. So the girls would corner her and just point out all the flaws on Kelly's body. "I can see all your ribs." "You look like a starving animal." "Do you ever eat?" "You're basically a walking stick." "You're pretty much just skin and bones." "What are you? Anorexic or something?" "If you're trying to pull of the skinny, sexy look, it's not working." "You have a serious problem." Those girls skinny-shame anyone who was thinner than them. Kelly would sometimes never say anything when this happens. She didn't think it was worth fighting back. But long story short: Jesse was a bitch and the fact that she tried to pretend that she was Kelly's friend just really pissed her off.

Jesse was one of the many reasons why Kelly took her own life.

**Kayla Okoro**: "o my fuckin god jesse stfu/ kelly fuckin ignore that bitch she aint yo friend. wtf jesse quit bein all fake n shit i hope kelly haunts yo ass. anyways i seriously can't believe that you're dead. i mean one minute youre here and the next youre gone. it just happened so fast and im just so mad right now. why did this have to happen? i cant believe it. i didnt think that you would do this. you were so nice to me when we first met at tryouts and weve been pretty good friends ever since. and unlike that cunt down there i'll seriously miss you so so much. you were such a great friend. i hope u get treated well up there in heaven. say hi to my gramma. she probs gonna be carryin a huge ass red purse and be wearin a flowery night gown thing. you didnt have to do this. ok i should proabably stop typing now cuz im literally crying as i write this. i love you so so much and ill seriously miss you"

Aeola was half crying and half laughing. Kayla was the only girl on the long jump team who didn't gang up on Kelly when Jesse wanted her to. Ever since then they've been really good friends. She was tough as boots and wasn't afraid to tell off someone when they said something mean or stupid. When she wanted to, Kayla would just curse all over the place (she was the one who taught Kelly all the cuss words she knows now). Aeola looked through the people that commented on that post. Jesse went on a rant on how rude and disrespectful she was being to her and Kelly ("Look who's talking," Aeola muttered). Other people also remarked that what she posted was impolite. But Aeola didn't care. In fact she loved it. If Kayla tried to sound like everyone else who posted on her wall then it would sound so fake, so she was glad that she said what she said.

**John Belter**: "Might as well start off with some memories. I remember this one time during the summer after 8th grade when both of our families went to San Diego for a few days. We were with Ian, Michael and Kyle when we were surfing at a beach. After a whole bunch of attempts you were finally able to surf on this wave and you seemed pretty proud of yourself...until you almost crashed into the rocks. Thank God you were able to avoid them, but then you ended up on a current that was pulling you into a reservoir. You were screaming your head off and you tried to swim against it but it wasn't working so I had to get back on the land so I can help you get out. You got near the rocks and I reached out my hand to pull you out, but then I saw a lobster standing next to me, I freaked out, and then slipped and we both fell back in the water. So my brothers and Kyle had spent ten minutes trying to get us out before our parents came back to get us. After that we relaxed in the hotel lobby drinking lemonade and talked about our adventure. I'll never forget it. But now you're gone and that's the only thing that comes into my head when I think of you. I don't know what made this happen. It was so sudden and shocking. I feel dead inside. It's like I'm in a dream or something. I can't really describe it. I just lost my best friend and I'll never see her again. I didn't know you were going through so much shit. Well, I kind of knew that you were having a hard time with stuff. But I didn't think it was so bad that you decided to kill yourself. I really wished that I could have talked to you when I thought you were struggling. I still can't believe what happened. I'll miss you so much."

John was Kelly's best friend. They've known each other ever since seventh grade when they became a couple. It obviously didn't work out (only lasted about a week and a half) and they broke up, but they stayed really good friends. They always hung out with each other only but then Kayla was added to their small group when high school started. He was a nice and likable guy. He got other friends of his own in high school but he always stuck with Kelly. The two have been through a lot together and Aeola wished she was able to talk to him and Kayla to explain everything...

The rest of the posts were terrible. Some were from relatives who talked about how nice of a young lady Kelly was, even though she never really talked with them during family get-togethers. Others were from people who claimed to be her friends. They said how beautiful and wonderful and amazing she was which only made Aeola even more angry. If she was so "beautiful," then how come those idiots never told her that when she was still alive? They ignore her for so long, but when they found out she committed suicide, they're her best friends all of a sudden? She didn't know most of these people! And some of them were part of the reason why she killed herself! The only reason they were leaving these stupid "condolences" was because they want to sound all nice and down-to-Earth!

"Well, guess what?" Aeola said to the computer. "All of you are just a bunch of_ fucking morons_!"

She closed the tab, grabbed a pillow, and screamed into it. Outside, a strong wind made the windows rattle. Aeola noticed and tried to calm herself down but she only made herself angrier. She quickly went to her computer and opened up her Spotify and played a random song in her "favorite songs" playlist. Music always succeeded in calming her down when she was upset.

The first minute or so of the song was just instrumental. It was quiet and soothing. Then the words came in and the music picked up a little bit:

_Hey!_

_I don't sleep so well at night,  
Waiting up and shivering,  
Heater's gone and money's tight,  
This little home that I'm living in..._

Aeola took a deep breath. The wind outside blew a little more softly.

_You've got to live your life,  
While your blood is boiling,  
These doors won't open,  
While you stand and watch them..._

The windows stopped rattling. Aeola sighed and walked to her bed while the music continued.

_Oh oh oh,  
What is with you?  
Oh oh oh,  
I've never seen this side of you...  
Oh oh oh,  
What is with you?  
Oh oh oh,  
I've never seen this side of you..._

_Hey!_

_We are all living  
Till we grow older,  
You'll be the worker  
I'll be the soldier,_

_Now let me hear those sounds you sing to me,  
Cha ching, cha ching, cha chingaling,  
Now let me hear those sounds you sing to me,  
Cha ching, cha ching, cha chingaling..._

Aeola was lying down on her bed, singing along to the music.

_I don't think it's quite the same,  
Just running out to feel the rain,  
Staring as the stars parade,  
Are they telling me it's gonna be okay?_

_You've got to live your life,  
While your blood is boiling,  
These doors won't open,  
While you stand and watch them..._

The wind was now a nice, soft breeze. It still made the night cold, bu it wasn't unbearably freezing. Aeola sighed and hugged one of her pillows. She felt so tired...she hadn't slept in a while...

_Oh oh oh,  
What is with you?  
Oh oh oh,  
I've never seen this side of you..._

_Hey!_

_We are all living  
Till we grow older,  
You'll be the worker  
I'll be the soldier,_

_Now let me hear those sounds you sing to me,  
Cha ching, cha ching, cha chingaling,  
Now let me hear those sounds you sing to me,  
Cha ching, cha ching, cha chingaling...  
_

Aeola closed her eyes but was still listening to the chorus. She didn't care if she slept here. She missed sleeping in her own bed. Besides, no one was home to question the fact that most of the lights in the house were turned on and music was playing from the dead girl's bedroom.

A stream of dream sand came in through the door and Aeola fell asleep.

* * *

Sandy was in the neighborhood when he saw some of his dream sand enter a house that he knew was supposed to be empty during this time of the year. Curious, he looked in through a window and was surprised to see a familiar wind spirit silent and curled up on a bed. Sandy smiled. He figured she missed her home. He sent in some of his sand to turn off all the lights but didn't bother to turn off her computer since the music was still playing and he didn't want to stop it. As he flew away, the song was nearing it's end.

_Till we grow older..._

_Till we grow older..._

* * *

**Thank goodness i was able to finish this chapter today before school starts again otherwise you guys would have waited another week. I've got a ton of stuff on my plate. :(**

**So, yes. Kelly/Aeola committed suicide. And you see one of the reasons why.**

**The song that Aeola was listening to is "Cha-Ching (Till We Grow Ol****der)" by Imagine Dragons. It's one of my favorite songs. Makes me think of running around in the rain and messing about.**

**School starts tomorrow, so expect me to not update as much. I'll try my best to update and work on it. And I'm still taking suggestions!**

**Review, favorite, and follow! xoxoxoxo**

**-psychochirpingmistress**


	11. Chapter 11: Games Children Play

**Reply to reviews:**

**lovelydarkness256: why, thank you.**

**Snow-Nightshade: yup. :/**

**DatFandomGirl: Mary-Sues piss me off, too. Like, in my really old "fanfic" I wrote for this thing when I was like in 5th grade, I made a Mary-Sue. I read it not too long ago and dear god I wanted to _cry_. I'm literally cringing right now just thinking about it. I don't want to read a thing where this female character is just so incredibly perfect and wonderful and crap. No one is perfect. Everyone has flaws. We all try to be perfect but it never really works out. Okay, I gotta stop myself before I go on a speech. No Mary-Sues in this fanfic. Period.**

**Merlin'sPen: I...I made you cry? Excuse me...*runs outside and cheers* Ahem...I'm back. You're questions did indeed help me a bit. Thank you for asking. :) And no, I am not proud of myself for making a reader cry what are you talking about**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Games Children Play**

Jamie looked both ways on the street before crossing it. He held onto his hat and zipped up his jacket when a cold wind blew the snow flurries in his face. Jack happened to be flying by and saw the boy about to head into an apartment building.

"Hey Jamie!" he shouted.

No reply.

"Jamie!"

Still no reply. Jack started to get worried. He flew down in front of the doors to the building.

"JAMIE!"

"AUGH!" Jamie stumbled back and fell into the snow. "Jack! What the heck? You scared me!"

Jack sighed in relief. "Sorry. I called your name earlier but you didn't seem to hear me. I thought...I thought you..."

"I what?"

"...Nothing. It's nothing." Jack pulled him to his feet. "Anyways, where are you going?"

"Oh! Pippa's godfather just got her a Wii-U and she invited some of us over to play it!"

"What's a...Wii-U?"

Jamie's mouth hung open. "You don't know what a Wii-U is?!"

"Nope. But judging by your surprised expression, I'm guessing that it's something that I should know about."

"Well, it's this console thing made by Nintendo, and it's really cool, and it's a lot like the Wii, but it's not 'cuz it has a touchscreen pad thing, and it's in HD which means it has really awesome graphics and stuff, and it has all these cool games and it's so fun and stuff!"

Jack stared at Jamie with a black expression. "...Okay, then."

Jamie's eyes lit up. "Why don't you come with me and you can play it with us?"

"Uh," Jack said, rubbing the nape of his neck. "I'm not sure, kiddo. I don't really know a lot about this technology stuff and-"

"Come on! It won't be that hard to figure out! Please?"

"...Fine."

"Awesome!" Jamie pulled him inside the building. "Let's go!"

* * *

Pippa's apartment was on the fourth floor and wasn't very big. It only had to be large enough for Pippa and her parents to live in. All it had was a kitchen/dining room and the living room and two bedrooms. But it was manageable and Pippa never complained about it.

The door was unlocked. Jamie and Jack burst in. Pippa, Caleb, and Claude all sat in front of the TV holding their Wii-motes.

"DON'T START WITHOUT ME!" Jamie shouted as he sprinted to a spot next to Caleb.

"Relax," Pippa said. "We're waiting for someone right now."

Jack said hi to everyone and took a seat on the couch behind them. He looked at the screen and saw what looked like a bunch of cards with weird symbols on them. One had three green triangles on it. Another had a blue leaf with a bit of it missing.

"So," Jack said. "This is a video game, right?"

Pippa nodded. "Yup. It's called Nintendo Land and it's just a bunch of really fun mini-games."

"'Fun,' I like fun. Which game?"

"We're gonna play Mario Chase!" Caleb exclaimed.

"Mario what?"

Claude took a sip of his hot chocolate before replying. "The people with the Wii-motes are Toads and the person with the game-pad is Mario, and we're put in this course, arena thing and all of the Toads have to tag Mario before the time's out."

Jack looked lost. "What are these 'Toad' things and who's Mario?"

All the children stared at him in disbelief. "You don't know who Mario is?"

"I know, right?" Jamie said.

"You've been alive for, what, three-hundred years?" said Claude. "And you don't know who Mario is?"

Jack put his hands up in surrender. "I don't pay attention to this video game crap! I've heard of it before but I never got a chance to play them, okay? And yes! I don't know who this Mario guy is! Got a problem with that?"

"Yes."

"Well, deal with it. Can I play?"

"Sorry, Jack," Pippa said. "Only people who know who Mario is can play. And we already have a fifth player."

_BAM!_

"OW."

Everyone jumped and looked out the window to see that Aeola, who was now rubbing her head from the impact, had flew into it. Jack burst out laughing but tried to conceal it. Pippa opened the window and the wind spirit flew in, her face red from embarrassment.

"...Uh, sorry," she said. "I didn't notice that...your window was...closed."

Pippa looked guilty. "I closed it when you left so the cold wouldn't come in. Are you okay?"

Aeola stood up straight. "Yeah! I'm fine! I'm just...clumsy. It happens a lot for me. Don't sweat it." She frowned at Jack. "What are you laughing at?"

Jack snorted. "It...it's nothing, princess. You're just a funny person."

"Don't call me princess."

"Whatever suits you, princess."

Aeola shot him a glare. He was only teasing a little, but she didn't like it so much right now. She turned to the children.

"Anyways, sorry for taking so long. While I was out exploring I found a thrift shop and they had these awesome boots and I was checking them out. Are we starting now?"

Pippa nodded. "Yeah. You wanna be Mario or a Toad?"

Aeola smiled mischievously. "Mario." She picked up the GamePad. "I'll be Mario, and you little dudes have fun trying to get me."

"You're on!" they shouted.

Aeola sat next to Jack so that the other players wouldn't see her screen. They all picked their Miis (Pippa made all of them that morning) and the game began. Pippa was the green toad, Caleb was pink, Claude was yellow, and Jamie was blue. Aeola's Mii was dressed as Mario. The TV screen showed that they were on a course that was divided into 4 colors: green, blue, yellow, and red. All of the characters stood in the middle of it. A whistle went off and Aeola ran off while the others were stuck in their positions. After about 10 seconds, all of the Toads started searching for Mario.

"Do you guys see her?"

"No, I can't find her."

"I think she's in blue."

"I see her! She's running around in blue!"

Jack looked at the TV, then at the GamePad in Aeola's hands. She was on the exact opposite side of where everyone else was.

"She's in blue!"

"That's not Aeola. That's me, you idiot."

"Oh."

"Where is she? My thing says she's, like, thirty-nine yards away from me or something."

"I found her, I found her!"

"Where?"

"In green! I see her!"

"No you don't!" Aeola said as she turned around to head into the yellow area. "I'm not in green! I'm...in red!"

"I can totally see you heading into yellow!"

"YOU ARE SEEING THINGS! THAT IS NOT ME, FOOL!"

For about a minute, Pippa, Claude, Caleb, and Jamie tried their best to tackle Aeola. They got so into it that they were practically yelling at each other where she had gone, if she was in a certain color, or ordering each other to try to trap her. Finally, Aeola took a turn around a wall only to run right into Caleb. He tackled her down and the children jumped up in the air.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

Aeola tossed the GamePad on the couch in defeat, but she was smiling. "You got me."

"Yeah we did!" Caleb exclaimed. He gave his twin a hi-five.

Jack stared at Aeola.

"What is it?" the wind spirit asked.

"You let them win," he said.

"What?"

"I saw you. The path to the left was clear and you were about to go there, but once you saw Caleb, you immediately turned right and ran into him to let him tag you. You practically let them steal your chance at victory."

Aeola seemed perplexed. "Why, I would do no such thing! I simply made a mistake and was tagged fair and square. What made you believe that I would let them win, Jack Frost?"

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"Of course not!"

"You're being sarcastic."

"Why would you think such a preposterous idea?"

"I don't know!" Jack said in a falsetto. "I don't understand how such an outrageous thing could come into my head! How silly of me!"

For a few seconds, Aeola tried to keep a straight face. Then the corners of her lips started to twitch and she started to crack up.

"What?" Jack said, also laughing.

"N-nothing," Aeola stuttered. "It's...I...your voice kept on cracking and...I don't know. I just think it's funny when guys do that."

Jack smiled. It was nice to see that he finally made her smile at him. Normally she would avoid his gaze whenever she could or if they ever did make eye contact, she would give him this weird glare. Jack noticed that she did this when she talked to the Guardians but not when she was speaking with the children. She was sort of glaring at them but also not glaring at them. There was some kind of fear in her eyes but it was only noticeable if one really paid attention to it. She also went a little stiff around them like she was expecting them to kick or punch her or something, like they would hurt her. Of course, the Guardians would never do that, so Jack wondered why Aeola acted like that around people.

"Well," he said. "It's nothing I can really help. It's a guy thing."

Pippa and the other children went into the kitchen to get more hot chocolate, leaving the two young spirits in an awkward silence.

Aeola coughed. "So, um, how's stuff?"

The winter spirit shrugged. "Okay. A little boring."

More silence.

"So," Jack started. "I...see you have a new outfit now."

Aeola nodded. She changed her clothes while she was at her house the other day. A loose-fitting blue sweater that had an image of a robot with the word "PARAMORE" under it was worn over a white tank top. Her black jeans were replaced with black leggings and she wore black rain boots instead of her white Converse. The only things that were still the same were her black finger-less gloves, her floppy gray beret, and her blonde hair (tied back into a messy ponytail) with the tips dyed blue.

"Yup," Aeola said. "I visited my old house to check up on stuff and decided to change my clothes. Didn't want to be stuck in the same clothes forever, ya' know?"

"Uh, yeah." jack blushed and made a mental note in his head to get some new clothes soon. "Yeah, definitely gross." He looked at the object in Aeola's hand. "What's that?"

"My iTouch. It was just sitting on my desk in my room so I thought I could take it so i could listen to my music and play my apps if i ever got too bored."

"Apps?"

"Yeah. Like games and stuff."

"And it has music, too?"

"Well...yup. I mean, it has music, and a calendar, and it tells you the weather, and you can go on the internet and all that. As long as you have access to Wi-Fi, that is. And if you wanted to, you can buy more music and apps."

"Really? Can I see it?"

Hesitantly, Aeola handed Jack her device and watched as he scrolled through her apps.

"This...this is so cool!" Jack said, smiling. "I mean, I've heard of an iTouch and an iPhone before, but I've never actually had the chance to touch and handle one."

"What?" Aeola frowned. "You've been alive for three-hundred years and you've never ever got to use this kind of stuff?"

"Nah. It sounded interesting at first, but I was too busy making snow days and freezing people's tongues on drinking fountains. And I didn't know too much about this stuff so I didn't really bother to check it out. What's this?"

Jack pointed at an app with a picture of a little green creature about to eat a piece of candy.

"That game's called Cut the Rope," explained Aeola. She explained the concept of the game and jack listened to every word. He was fascinated. Aeola let him play the game and got a kick out of trying to get the piece of candy to the little green monster. He eventually stopped and looked at the other games she had.

"What's Candy Crush Saga?"

A shadow passed over Aeola's face. "It's a game. A very, very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY addicting game. Once someone plays it..." She gulped. "They cannot stop."

Jack opened up the app and gasped. "Holy...! You're on level three-hundred and twelve?! How many levels are there?"

"Oh, only just over four-hundred and fifty."

"..."

"And the people who make the levels are still making more of them."

"What."

"It's a really, really popular game. It's just...so addicting."

"I'm going to play it."

"No!"

Jack looked up to see Aeola's frightened expression.

"What?"

Aeola pointed at the iTouch. "Didn't you hear me earlier? This game is extremely addicting! Even more addicting than cocaine and marijuana and Tumblr! When I first got Candy Crush Saga, I didn't get any sleep for three nights because I was up playing the fucking game!"

"You're exaggerating. It can't be that addicting."

"That's what they all say. Then they play the first level, then they have to play the second one, and the next one and the next one and the next one...sooner or later you're so hooked on the game that you're constantly thinking about the level you played even when you're not playing it. There are people around the world going insane because of this demonic thing!"

"Come on, princess."

The wind spirit crossed her arms. "Fine. Go play it if you want. Go ahead and ruin your life. But don't come crying to me when I take my iTouch back and you want to keep on playing it."

Jack rolled his eyes and tapped on the first level.

_It can't be that bad_, he thought.

* * *

The children finished getting their cups of cocoa and were now ready for round 2 of Mario Chase. Pippa threw 2 Wii-motes at Jack and Aeola.

"Okay! I'll be sitting out on this game for now. Jamie's gonna be Mario and the rest of you guys are gonna be Toads, 'kay? Do you know how to play, Jack? Um, Jack?"

"Sorry," Aeola said, looking at the winter spirit. "Trying to get his attention is hopeless."

Jamie jumped on the couch and looked at the device in Jack's hands. "What are you...aw, man! He's playing Candy Crush Saga!"

"He is?" Everyone looked at the iTouch screen. Caleb groaned. "Crud! He's already on level four! That means he's already addicted!"

"Jack!" Jamie shouted, shaking his shoulder. "Jack! Enough with that game! Let's play Mario Chase now!"

Jack waved off the boy without taking his eyes off the game. "Yeah...yeah. Just...give me a sec. I'm almost done...with this level. One more level, guys."

"No, Jack! Play with us! Mario Chase is way more fun! Jack! JACK!"

Aeola pulled the children away. "STOP! This is futile. It's already too late. We lost him." There was a moment of silence. "Let's just play without him. He'll probably stop soon."

"Yeah, right," Claude muttered. But they decided to listen to Aeola and continue their video game without Jack.

Jamie sat on the couch while the others sat on the floor in front of him and the game began. Mario ran off first and then all of the Toads scattered to track him down. Everyone eventually started yelling at each other about 30 seconds into the game. Jamie was pretty good. He easily evaded everyone. But during the last 15 seconds, the Toads started to corner Mario. Jamie turned around, but Pippa's Toad was right behind him.

"NOOO!" Jamie screamed. Out of panic, he violently jerked the GamePad to the left and hit Jack, causing him to drop the iTouch. Jack blinked.

"What..."

Jamie threw his hands in the air. "Dangit! That was so unfair!"

No one heard him. The others were laughing and hi-fiving each other for finally tagging Mario.

"Come on, guys! That didn't count! I got distracted because I accidentally hit Jack and I stopped. Can we have a rematch?"

Aeola ruffled Jamie's hair. "Sorry, little dude. No rematches. It was your own fault that you got tackled." She looked behind Jamie and smirked. "So, how did you like Candy Crush Saga, Jack?"

It took a moment for him to respond. "It...I was on level seven. I only had two moves left..." He reached down for the iTouch.

"Nope!" Aeola quickly picked up the device. "No more of this game for you!"

"But-"

"Nope!"

Jack sighed. "Fine." But he was still staring at the iTouch lustfully.

Pippa gave Jack a Wii-mote. "Come on. Play Mario Chase with us. It's a lot more fun than that game."

"...Okay, then."

"Do you know how to play?"

"I'll figure it out."

"Alright then. Let's start!"

Turns out, Jack was able to figure out how to play incredibly fast. He was pretty good at playing for a guy who has never ever touched a Wii-mote his whole entire life until now.

The next half hour consisted of more yelling, screaming, laughing, and even a little bit of punching and hitting when Caleb got mad at Claude for tackling him instead of Mario. But everyone was having a good time. There was one incident where Mario (played by Caleb) was heading towards the middle of the course to obtain a star (which granted speed and invincibility for a short amount of time) and one of the Toads (Jack) was waiting there to tackle down Mario. But as the Toad jumped, Mario touched the star, so the Toad was shoved aside as Mario ran around the course like a madman.

They all eventually got bored of the game and moved on to play Animal Crossing: Sweet Days. Jack was on the GamePad, so he was playing as the two gatekeepers who try to tag the animals. Everyone else except for Pippa were the animals who try to eat a certain amount of candy around the course before they get caught 3 times. The TV screen showed them all standing in the middle.

Aeola: Okay guys, we have to be sneaky.

Pippa: What we need to do is run around together and find the trees with the buttons and stand on them so we can get all the candy and stuff.

Jamie: It's counting down! Let's go!

Jack: So...you control both of these guys at once?

Claude: Jamie, let's not do this one! I saw another one further down!

Caleb: How do you stand on the—

Aeola: Ooooooh, he's coming!

Claude: Go, go!

Aeola: He's chasing me!

Jamie: Caleb, are you the frog guy?

Caleb: Yeah.

Aeola: Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap...

Claude: Up here up here up here! Stand on the buttons!

Aeola: He's coming for you guys up there.

Caleb: Claude, we don't have enough time! He's right there! He's comi-

Claude: OOOOOOOH! OH! HE ALMOST GOT ME!

Jamie: Wait! You guys! Come down here and step on these buttons with me! Quick!

Caleb: Hurry!

Aeola: We can't-

Caleb: Hurry!

All the candy fell down from the tree and the two gatekeepers were only a few feet away.

Jamie: RUUUUN!

Claude: He's coming!

Aeola: Who's he chasing? Who's he chasing?

Claude: Whoever's the pink squirrel, come here!

Caleb: OOOOOOOOH!

Jamie: Don't go that way! He's right there!

Aeola: Oh, no!

Jack: Ugh, this is hard to control! My finger's slipping off the things!

Jamie: Should we start picking up the candies now-

Aeola: CRUD! Come on, man! Give me a chance to pick some up!

Claude: He almost had me!

Caleb: We have to find another one!

Aeola: Top right! Right here, right here...

Jamie: Okay.

Caleb: I think he might be coming...wait, that's Claude.

Claude: Idiot.

Jamie: Alright, get these ones. Hurry.

Aeola: You shoulda gotten the-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH HE'S RIGHT HERE.

Caleb: Run! Run!

Aeola: He's swifter than the wind!

Jack: This is getting hard. Oh, hello.

Jack tackled Caleb.

Caleb: NOOOO! HE GOT ME!

Claude: No!

Aeola: I...I just have to poop! Poop out the candies to run faster! Ahhhhh! I'm pooping!

Jack laughed.

Jack: This is so hard!

Caleb: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OH, NO!

Jack: I...I'm reacting awkwardly!

Aeola: Guys! Pick 'em up! P-pick all that stuff up!

Claude: He's in the middle! We have ten candies left! Jamie, get all that candy! Hurry!

Aeola: Go, Jamie!

Jamie: DONE!

Aeola and the children cheered.

"Take that, Frost!" Aeola said with a smirk. "We totally won."

Jack stood up. "Yeah? Well see about that next round, princess."

The next three hours were spent by playing the rest of the games. They battled monsters, hunted for ghosts, ate candy, became little leaf people, fought off ninjas...danced an octopus dance. But eventually they stopped playing. A sick, groggy feeling (the one that many people get for sitting around for too long) began to set over them, so Pippa thought it was time for everyone to leave.

Aeola and Jack stood off near the window.

"So."

"So..."

Aeola slung her bow over her shoulder. "well, that was fun, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." Jack leaned on his staff. "But I still don't understand why one of the mini-games involved doing a weird dance with some guy."

"Nintendo does some weird stuff. It's hard to explain." Aeola opened the window and shivered. "Well...I better get going. I've got some wind spirit duties to take care of."

"Alright. But will I ever see you again, princess?"

"Why would you want to see me again? I'm not a very exciting person to be around."

"You're a fun person, though. And you're funny."

"'Funny'?"

Jack spoke in a falsetto again. "'He's coming! Oh dear! I need to poop out the candy to run faster! Ahhhhhhh!'"

Aeola laughed. "I do not talk like that! And trust me. I'm only 'fun' on certain days. On other days...I'm pretty boring. And annoying."

"So? We can hang out as friends. Make a few snow blizzards, freeze people's shoes to the ground, just hang out. I really don't have a lot of things to do and don't have a lot of Guardian stuff to take care of. And...I don't have a lot of friends besides you, the Guardians, and the kids here, so...yeah. Not too many people like me."

Aeola pursed her lips. Not a lot of friends, people disliking him...she could relate. "How do I know you're not lying? Maybe the real reason you want to be friends with me is so you can play Candy Crush Saga on my iTouch whenever you want."

"I'm done with that game for good."

"'It's not addicting' my ass."

"I'm serious! And anyways, I know we're friends. Friends make each other smile and have fun. We just did that so...technically we're friends."

"Hm...yeah." Aeola jumped out the window and hovered for a bit. "Just saying, I'm really annoying and boring and a huge pain. I do a lot of stupid things because I'm a stupid person."

Jack smiled. "And I'm stupid, too. We're going to be best friends."

"I..." Aeola's voice faltered. She didn't know how to respond to that. "Anyways, I'm just warning you. There was a reason why a lot of people didn't like me when I was a mortal, and there's still a reason why the other spirits don't like me that much now."

"Same."

Aeola's smile was gone and her eyes flashed. Jack knew what she was doing. She was trying to push him away. But it wasn't going to work on him.

"All I'm saying here," he broke in. "Is that I really don't care if other people hate your guts. Maybe they just don't like your personality, or who you are, or whatever. But I do. You seem nice. You're funny. Fun. You're a little crazy sometimes, but that's what makes you interesting. The Guardians like you. Pippa and Jamie and everyone else think you're the coolest person ever." He coughed. "Butnotascoolasme. Anyways, I consider you my friend, and there is no way you're getting out of it."

For a few seconds, all Aeola did was glare at him. Jack thought that she was going to yell at him or use her weird wind powers to blast him out of the building. Instead, she smiled softly.

"Okay then," she said. "That's fine. We could hang out again soon...maybe. But you just got yourself into a huge mess by being friends with me."

Jack shrugged. "I'm Jack Frost. I make a mess wherever I go, princess."

Aeola started to fly off. "I have to go. I'll, um, talk to you later or...something. Tell Pippa I said bye."

"Later, princess!"

"And don't call me that!"

"As you wish, princess!"

"Jack!"

"Sorry, princess!"

"You kidding me?"

"I can't stop, pri-"

"Heads up!"

A snowball hit Jack right in the face and he fell over.

"Ow," he said, shaking the snow out of his hair.

Aeola looked at him with a blank expression. "Oops. That must've slipped. Total accident. Oops."

Jack looked up and laughed. "I deserved that."

"Yeah, you did." Aeola turned around but Jack saw her smiling. "See you later, Jack."

"Bye."

She shot off and disappeared behind a cloud.

"...Princess."

* * *

***bursts out the gates of my school***

**i'M HeRE! IM HERE IM NOT DEAD.**

**So...I haven't updated in a while. Hehe. Sorry. School started. I've been pretty busy. Even though the only "advanced" class I'm taking is Honors English (did you know my teacher likes Doctor Who? That'd be cool if he weren't a terrible teacher), I still carry the burden of having a shit ton of homework. I'm also in choir and we're doing a bunch of fundraisers. Did I also mention that i decided to push myself too far by accidentally joining like 8 clubs that involve a lot of volunteer work? I'm going to have to drop some. I mean, I need a life. Ugh. Enough talking about myself. Sorry. Long-story short: I'm really, really busy.**

**This chapter is pretty cruddy. I had a bad case of writer's block and I BS-ed by way through a lot of this.**

**I want a Wii-U, guys. I want one BAD. So I threw it in this chapter to express my desire for it.**

**Cnady Crush Saga...*war flashbacks* I sold my soul to this game...guys don't play Candy Crush Saga. I BEG OF YOU ITS A HUGE MISTAKE.**

**Next chapter will come up...in less than a month! I guarantee you that! And...what's this? *hands come out of the school* no! They're dragging me back in! Back! Back, you fiends! No! One of them has grabbed me! I...I can't escape! They're dragging me back into the school! nooo...! Schoolwork! responsibilities! Relationships! ahhhh!**

**Review...favorite and...subscribe! And...agh! I'm still...taking suggestions! I'll be back...! AH!**

**-psychochirpingmistress**

**(I really need to get some sleep)**


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